For the Record, I think this is a non-story, and I am all for legal drug use. I think he still uses drug though!
http://www.torontosun.com/news/toro...ews/torontoandgta/2010/08/18/pf-15067206.html
One toke over the line can be a career-ender if the line in question is the U.S. border.
But not for mayoral candidate Rob Ford, who successfully beat a marijuana possession charge in Florida in 1999, even though he admits he was guilty as charged.
“They pulled me over,” Ford said. “I was with my wife. They found one joint in my back pocket.”
It was Valentine’s Day 1999 and Ford and his wife-to-be were in the Miami area for a winter break.
He was arrested, booked and fingerprinted, then released on his own recognizance.
But Ford said he never had to appear in court — he hired a lawyer and the charge was eventually dropped, for reasons Ford can’t remember.
“Was it wrong? Absolutely it was wrong and I made a mistake,” he said. “You learn by your mistakes.”
The details are fuzzy — he’s not sure why he was pulled over and couldn’t say where he got the joint.
The brush with the law, though, hasn’t made him reconsider his stern law and order views.
“I think the laws are absolutely right,” he said.
“I think the laws are appropriate and I’m not one to say we should legalize marijuana. I’ve never said that and I wouldn’t want to see that happen.”
Ford said he’s never had any trouble crossing the border since the incident and no longer uses marijuana.
“I don’t use drugs. I’m not in that scene,” he said.
He put the incident so far behind him, he said he was caught off guard and adamantly denied having been charged when first approached by the Sun.
“No to answer your question,” Ford said.
“I’m dead serious. When I say no, I mean never. No question, Now I’m getting offended. No means no.”
But after Ford was provided with details from a Florida state criminal history record obtained by the Sun, he admitted the incident.
“I completely forgot about it until you mentioned it right now,” he said.
“You think I’m BSing you but I’m not. It completely, totally slipped my mind.
“It was nothing. It wasn’t a major issue. There’s more serious things in life.”
Ford’s brother and campaign manager Doug Ford said he never knew about the incident.
“I guess that’s something Rob kept personal. That’s Rob, that’s his business,” he said.
“I’ll sit down and I’ll be talking to Rob. I haven’t had a chance to sit down with all the whirlwind from this immigration thing from yesterday. I guess today immigration, tomorrow this and the next day, who knows what?”