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Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to take leave for rehab as new crack smoking video, drunken rant emerges
The admitted crack smoker and heavy drinker has long dodged calls for him to resign or go to drug rehab. He relented Wednesday after a video, shot early Saturday morning, shows him reportedly smoking crack cocaine. An audio clip, recorded secretly Monday night, reportedly catches Ford during a drunken evening out at a bar.
Toronto's crack-smoking, liquor-loving mayor said Wednesday he’ll be going to rehab, as new video evidence emerged of him toking up.
Rob Ford, who has been beset by scandal since reports of him smoking crack-cocaine first surfaced last May, is taking a leave of absence and will suspend his reelection campaign so he can “deal with his issues,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
Ford’s decision to step away from his reelection campaign was announced Wednesday night, as a Toronto newspaper revealed the existence of a new videotape of him getting high.
Reporters for Toronto’s Globe and Mail viewed the video, secretly filmed about 1:15 a.m. Saturday in the basement of a home owned by Ford’s sister, Kathy, an admitted drug addict who was present during the puff-a-thon.
The video was not released, but a still image shows Ford handling a pipe, exhaling a cloud of smoke and frantically shaking his right hand. A self-professed drug dealer shot the video and has offered to sell it to media outlets for a six-figure sum. The dealer described the substance Ford was smoking as crack, the newspaper reported.
Ford initially denied he was a crackhead last year after reports surfaced of a video showing him getting stoned. While the video was never made public, Ford eventually admitted he had smoked crack.
Ford’s latest tumble into substance goes back to at least St. Patrick’s Day weekend, when the mayor ordered a party bus for himself and four strangers he met outside Toronto City Hall, The Star newspaper of Toronto reported. Witnesses said Ford and his entourage wound up at the Muzik nightclub in Toronto, where Ford drank to excess, The Star reported.
During the night of debauchery, Ford ran into pop star Justin Bieber. Ford tried to shake Bieber’s hand and became enraged when the “Baby” singer jokingly asked him: “Did you bring any crack to smoke?”
Following his encounter with Bieber, Ford went into a restroom at the club and emerged appearing drunk and babbling that his wife and children didn’t like him, witnesses told The Star.
“I am in over my head,” Ford allegedly said before leaving the club.
In April, Ford was spotted doing lines of cocaine, witnesses who were with him at the time told The Toronto Sun.
The Sun reported Wednesday it had obtained an audiotape of “unruly” Ford ranting and cursing while ordering booze at a bar in Toronto on Monday. In the audiotape, Ford appears to come unglued
“I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time,” Ford said in his statement. “I have tried to deal with these issues by myself over the past year. I know that I need professional help and I am now 100% committed to getting myself right.”
The admitted crack smoker and heavy drinker has long dodged calls for him to resign or go to drug rehab. He relented Wednesday after a video, shot early Saturday morning, shows him reportedly smoking crack cocaine. An audio clip, recorded secretly Monday night, reportedly catches Ford during a drunken evening out at a bar.
Toronto's crack-smoking, liquor-loving mayor said Wednesday he’ll be going to rehab, as new video evidence emerged of him toking up.
Rob Ford, who has been beset by scandal since reports of him smoking crack-cocaine first surfaced last May, is taking a leave of absence and will suspend his reelection campaign so he can “deal with his issues,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
Ford’s decision to step away from his reelection campaign was announced Wednesday night, as a Toronto newspaper revealed the existence of a new videotape of him getting high.
Reporters for Toronto’s Globe and Mail viewed the video, secretly filmed about 1:15 a.m. Saturday in the basement of a home owned by Ford’s sister, Kathy, an admitted drug addict who was present during the puff-a-thon.
The video was not released, but a still image shows Ford handling a pipe, exhaling a cloud of smoke and frantically shaking his right hand. A self-professed drug dealer shot the video and has offered to sell it to media outlets for a six-figure sum. The dealer described the substance Ford was smoking as crack, the newspaper reported.
Ford initially denied he was a crackhead last year after reports surfaced of a video showing him getting stoned. While the video was never made public, Ford eventually admitted he had smoked crack.
Ford’s latest tumble into substance goes back to at least St. Patrick’s Day weekend, when the mayor ordered a party bus for himself and four strangers he met outside Toronto City Hall, The Star newspaper of Toronto reported. Witnesses said Ford and his entourage wound up at the Muzik nightclub in Toronto, where Ford drank to excess, The Star reported.
During the night of debauchery, Ford ran into pop star Justin Bieber. Ford tried to shake Bieber’s hand and became enraged when the “Baby” singer jokingly asked him: “Did you bring any crack to smoke?”
Following his encounter with Bieber, Ford went into a restroom at the club and emerged appearing drunk and babbling that his wife and children didn’t like him, witnesses told The Star.
“I am in over my head,” Ford allegedly said before leaving the club.
In April, Ford was spotted doing lines of cocaine, witnesses who were with him at the time told The Toronto Sun.
The Sun reported Wednesday it had obtained an audiotape of “unruly” Ford ranting and cursing while ordering booze at a bar in Toronto on Monday. In the audiotape, Ford appears to come unglued
“I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time,” Ford said in his statement. “I have tried to deal with these issues by myself over the past year. I know that I need professional help and I am now 100% committed to getting myself right.”
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