Rob Ford
Toronto conservative mayor Rob Ford has admitted smoking crack cocaine (Reuters)

Toronto conservative mayor Rob Ford has admitted that he has smoked crack cocaine during one of his "drunken stupors".

His confession followed reports that Canadian police retrieved a video allegedly showing him smoking crack. The video was uncovered during an investigation that led to the arrest of Alessandro Lisi, a friend and occasional driver for the 44-year-old politician.

Ford admitted to reporters:

"Yes I have smoked crack cocaine. Am I addict? No. Have I tried it? Probably during one of my drunken stupors. Probably approximately one year ago.

"Yes, I've made mistakes. All I can do now is apologise and move on.

"There've been times when I've been in a drunken stupor," he added. "That's why I want to see this tape. Why I want the entire city to see the tape. I want to see what state I was in. I'd like to see this tape. I don't even recall there being a tape. Some of the stuff that you guys have seen me, the state I'm in - it's a problem."

The scandal erupted when US website Gawker and newspaper Toronto Star reported they had been separately offered a video by a Somali drug gang for a six-figure sum.

Gawker editor John Cook and Toronto Star reporters Robyn Doolittle and Kevin Donovan claimed they were shown the recording on a mobile phone and were left in little doubt that it showed Ford inhaling from what looked like a glass pipe and making erratic comments.

Ford, who was elected mayor in 2010, at first denied the allegations.