Mayor of Toronto Admits to Drug Use

Article: The Mayor of Toronto, Tom Ford, was being interviewed yesterday. During the interview, he admitted to doing drugs (smoking crack) while drunk. He speculated it happened a year or so ago. He also said he is not an addict. There have been several reactions: some say he should resign; others say he should seek intervention for drug use; others say he should apologize better for his drug use. Mayor Ford has responded that he won't step down and will in fact seek reelection next year. He does not have to leave office unless police arrest and jail him for a crime.

Click here for a video of him admitting to doing drugs. Click here for a picture of him.

Discussion:

• Why are people upset that Mayor Ford did drugs?  Why does doing drugs perhaps indicate that Mayor Ford is not being responsible? Often, if someone is not responsible in one area of their lives (like doing hard core drugs), they aren't going to be responsible in other areas (like getting their job done).
• What do you think should happen to Mayor Ford for doing drugs? Why? 
• How can the public be sure he won't do it again?
• If you want, you can speak to your kids about why hard drugs are particularly dangerous, like crack. Speak about someone you know whom it impacted. (If you need an example to use, you can tell your kids that a friend of mine tragically died when she was only in her early 20s because she did hard core drugs that led directly to her death. And yes--she was a lovely Jewish girl who came from a wonderful, loving family; she got mixed up with drugs and couldn't kick the habit.)