Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has decided to "take a leave" from his re-election campaign in order to seek help for alcohol abuse shortly after a local newspaper reported that a recent video shows the embattled official allegedly smoking crack cocaine.

Last year, Ford admitted to smoking crack cocaine during a "drunken stupor," however, he refused to step down from his office as an elected official.

On Wednesday night, a video surfaced that appears to show Ford smoking something out of a metal pipe, the Globe and Mail reported. Hours later, Ford said he was going to take a break from campaigning.

"I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time," he said in a statement published on Facebook.

"Today, after taking some time to think about my own well-being, how to best serve the people of Toronto and what is in the best interests of my family, I have decided to take a leave from campaigning and from my duties as mayor to seek immediate help," he said.

"I have tried to deal with these issues by myself over the past year. I know that I need professional help, and I am now 100 percent committed to getting myself right."

According to the Washington Post, the video of Ford allegedly smoking crack was taken Saturday morning at his sister's house by a man who professes to be a crack dealer. The drug dealer then contacted several media outlets offering to sell the video for over six figures.

Although the Globe and Mail did not purchase the rights to the video, reporters watched it and took stills from the footage. The newspaper also said the substance in the pipe could not be confirmed. The video is part "of a package of three videos the dealer said was surreptitiously filmed around 1:15 a.m. and which he says he is now selling for "'at least six figures,'" the paper reported.

According to CNNFord's attorney Dennis Morris said Ford "has to take a break to re-energize because he realizes he has flaws that have to be addressed." 

He added that it is hard to prove what the mayor is smoking from the video.

"If these guys are drug dealers and there's money involved, they can say whatever they want to get more money, to extract more money from the people who are paying."