Toronto Mayor admits to smoking crack

TORONTO (AP):

Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford today admitted to smoking crack.



The Mayor said he smoked crack "probably a year ago" when he was in a "drunken stupor", an admission that immediately intensified the pressure on him to resign.



The allegations that the mayor of Canada's largest city had been caught on video smoking crack surfaced in news reports in May.



Ford initially insisted the video didn't exist, sidestepped questions about whether he had ever smoked crack and rebuffed growing calls on him to step down.



The mayor was forced to backtrack after police said last week they had obtained a copy of the video in the course of a drug investigation against a friend of Ford's.



"Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine," Ford told reporters outside his office. "There have been times when I've been in a drunken stupor. That's why I want to see the tape. I want everyone in the city to see this tape. I don't even recall there being a tape or video. I want to see the state that I was in."



Police have said the video, which has not been released publicly, does not constitute enough evidence to charge the mayor with a crime.



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