Politics

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Reportedly Caught on Camera Smoking Crack… Again

Is taking a break from re-election campaign to seek help for alcohol abuse

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The Globe and Mail is reporting that it has seen footage of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack in his sister's basement on Saturday. After news of the footage came out Ford announced that he would take a break from his re-election campaign to seek help for alcohol abuse. Toronto's mayoral election is scheduled for October this year.

Gawker has stills of the footage.

Not the First Time

Almost a year ago it was reported that Ford had been captured on camera smoking crack. In November Ford admitted to smoking crack "probably in one of my drunken stupors," despite having previously denied doing so, but refused to resign.  

Ford's crack scandal made headlines across the world, as did his behavior amid all of the extra attention he was getting, including his "I never said I wanted to eat her pussy" comment and a drunken rant in which he put on an apparently pretty good Jamaican accent. Ford also starred in his own TV show, Ford Nation, which was canceled after one show.

Reason on Rob Ford

Jacob Sullum wrote on the day that Ford admitted to smoking crack that the substance is not as addictive as it is commonly assumed to be and that alcohol, not cocaine, is the drug that is adversely affecting Ford's job performance.

A Reason-Rupe poll from January shows that 52 percent of Americans would continue to back a politician they supported if it emerged that he or she used marijuana in their personal time, but only 13 percent felt the same way about supporting a politician who used cocaine.

Nick Gillespie mentioned Ford in a Time magazine column in which he asked why snorting coke should be treated differently than drinking a beer.

More from Reason on Rob Ford and cocaine here and here.