Toronto Mayor Rob Ford discusses drug abuse

In the wake of his return to City Hall this week after a two-month stint in rehab, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford sat down for interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to discuss his history of drug abuse.

Ford denied, however, doing drugs in his mayoral office — though he did admit to having been drunk on the job. "No, this was all on personal time. I was definitely under the influence of alcohol... but there was no drug use here," Ford said. "But at the end of the day, it's all a substance — alcohol, drugs, it's a substance-abuse problem."

Ford also stated that he would still decline to speak with investigators about his reported associations with criminal figures: "Regardless of my alcoholism, my substance-abuse problem, this is handled through my lawyer, Dennis Morris. I think anyone in my position would get legal advice, and that's exactly what I've done."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

At the close of the interview, the host Dwight Drummond asked: "If evidence surfaces after this, that you've fallen off the wagon, will you resign then? Will you go away and get the help that you need?"

Ford replied: "Well, Dwight, I know I didn't drink yesterday. I know I haven't drank today. I'm taking one day at a time."

Watch the full interview below. --Eric Kleefeld