Toronto mayor Rob Ford admits using crack cocaine in a 'drunken stupor'

Toronto mayor Rob Ford admitted on Tuesday that he had smoked crack cocaine "about a year ago", probably in a "drunken stupor".

Allegations over his drug use have swirled around Ford for months amid rumours of the existence of a video that showed him smoking crack. He previously denied such a video existed, but Toronto police last week said they had recovered the video.

His admission on Tuesday came during a scrum with reporters at Toronto city hall. The mayor asked reporters to repeat questions asked of him in May after Gawker first reported on the existence of the "crack video".

One said: "Have you smoked crack cocaine?"

"Exactly. Yes I have smoked crack cocaine" he replied. "But, no, do I? Am I an addict? No. Have I tried it? Um, probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably approximately about a year ago."

Ford, who has been mayor since 2010, said he did not lie when reporters asked him about a video which allegedly shows him smoking the drug.

"You didn't ask the correct questions," Ford said to the reporters.

"No I'm not an addict and no, I do not do drugs. I made mistakes in the past and all I can do is apologize, but it is what it is and I can't change the past."

Ford's admission follows mounting pressure on him to resign after police said they found a tape which appeared to show him puffing on a crack cocaine pipe. Last Thursday, police announced that a video had been recovered from a computer drive during an investigation of one of the mayor's associates who is suspected of providing him with drugs.

Three days ago, Ford apologized for being "hammered" in public and acknowledged the need to curb his drinking, but he didn't address allegations of drug use. In remarks made on his local weekly radio show on Sunday, he said he would remain in the job, despite calls for his resignation.

Earlier on Tuesday, the mayor's brother, councillor Doug Ford, called a press conference outside Ford's office to accuse the police chief, Bill Blair, of bias, after Blair called on the mayor to step down, according to the National News.