Toronto mayor denies smoking crack cocaine

Responding to allegations that first surfaced more than a week ago, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford told a news conference at Toronto City Hall: "I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine.

"As for a video, I cannot comment on a video that I have never seen or does not exist."

Ford, 43, lashed out at the media for judging him "without any evidence" - but declined to take any questions from journalists.

He explained he had kept a long silence on the advise of his lawyer.

"This past week has not been an easy one. And it's taken a great toll on my family and my friends and the great people of Toronto," he said, thanking those who supported him.

City councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker said he was disappointed in Ford's statement and called on him to resign and "go seek help".

"The Mayor is just imploding," he said. "The Mayor had an opportunity to acknowledge that perhaps he does have a problem ... instead he went on the attack."

The Toronto Star said it had been approached by purported drug dealers looking to sell the video. They apparently said it was shot on a mobile phone by a person who claimed to have supplied Ford with crack cocaine.

The newspaper claimed the footage showed the politician "sitting in a chair, wearing a white shirt, top buttons open, inhaling from what appears to be a glass crack pipe".

It said two of its reporters watched the video three times, but admitted it could not verify the authenticity of the clip.

However, it did appear to "clearly show the Mayor in a well-lit room".

The Mayor's statement came at the end of a dramatic week.

Ford fired his chief of staff, Mark Towhey, on Thursday but gave no reason for his dismissal. Towhey, who was escorted from City Hall by security staff, would only say that he did not resign.

A day earlier, Ford was sacked from his job as football coach at a Catholic school for reasons unrelated to the alleged drugs video scandal.

Toronto Catholic District School Board spokesman John Yan said the decision to remove Ford as the head of the Don Bosco Eagles Football programme had to do with the comments the Mayor made that parents found offensive.