Toronto Mayor Rob Ford admitted on Tuesday (November 5) that he has smoked crack cocaine, probably "in one of my drunken stupors," but insisted he's not an addict.

Facing a raucous group of reporters, Ford said he smoked crack, perhaps about a year ago. The admission came days after Toronto's police chief confirmed that police have recovered a copy of a video that two media organizations have said shows the mayor smoking the drug.

"Yes I have smoked crack cocaine," he said in his first admission of drug use after six months of evading the question. "But, no, do I? Am I an addict? No. Have I have tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably approximately about a year ago," he said.

In May, when the Toronto Star newspaper and the Gawker media blog first reported the existence of the video, Ford said he does not use crack cocaine, and he said he could not comment on a video he has not seen.

He and his brother Doug, a Toronto city councillor, have urged the police to release the video.

"I don't even remember," Ford said of his drug use. "After some of the stuff that you guys have seen me, the state I've been in. It's a problem."

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