Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says the decision to enter rehab this year was his and his alone.
Ford raised the subject during a speech to a business conference in Toronto on Saturday.
He told the National Franchise and Business Opportunities Show that he wished he`d checked into rehab years earlier.
Ford likened his struggles with addiction to a battle with "the man in the mirror," and said he finally realized that the only way to win his fight was by seeking professional help.
"Every time he kept beating me," Ford said of his reflection in the mirror. "I said 'you know what? Enough's enough. I've got to put everything aside or else one day I'm not going to be able to see that guy anymore."
The mayor entered the Greenestone addiction treatment centre near Bracebridge, Ont. in late April after months of revelations about drug and alcohol use and eyebrow raising public gaffes.
He spent two months at the facility, and he insisted Saturday that his substance abuse issues had been dealt with.
Ford, who is in the midst of a re-election campaign, has admitted using crack cocaine and being in a "drunken stupor." (AM640)
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