Lawyer: Toronto mayor to seek help
4/30/2014TORONTO— Toronto Mayor Rob Ford will take a leave of absence to seek help for substance abuse, his lawyer said today.
Dennis Morris said he spoke to Mr. Ford earlier today and said Mr. Ford has accepted that he has a problem.
“He acknowledges he has a substance abuse problem and he wants to do something about it,” Mr. Morris said.
Mr. Ford, who is seeking re-election in the October election, acknowledged last year after months of denials that he smoked crack in a “drunken stupor” after police said they obtained a video that appears to show him smoking crack. The video has never been released to the public.
News reports of the crack video’s existence first surfaced last May, igniting a media firestorm around Ford. He careened from one scandal to another, becoming a national embarrassment for many Canadians.