On August 14, the City of Vancouver announced that two non-binding plebiscites, or polling questions, will be added to the ballot of the 2026 Vancouver municipal election, which will take place on October 17. They ask whether the City of Vancouver should “forbid open-air hard drug (heroin, meth, fentanyl, and crack) use in public spaces” and whether they should create “a secure medical facility” for “acute voluntary and 100+ involuntary care beds” to those “posing a serious risk to themselves or others.”
They were added to the ballot after a majority Council vote pushed to include them in the municipal election. This happened during a special meeting called on August 14, which was called with 24 hours’ notice. Daily Hive reported that during the Council meeting, three out of four opposition councillors, Rebecca Bligh, Sean Orr, and Pete Fry, walked out of the meeting prior to the vote.
Vancouver mayor Ken Sim pitched the plebiscite, and his Council majority ABC Vancouver party councillors voted in favour of it. If support is gained through this plebiscite, Sim reportedly plans to replace the process of police officers filing reports on drug use with a system in which drugs are confiscated and the officer hands out something “similar to writing a speeding ticket,” as Sim said to Vancouver is Awesome. Currently, police officers may file reports for drug possession and open air drug use, which reportedly take many hours and means that few reports get submitted. Creating a ticketing system would increase ticketing of open air drug use to “act as a deterrent” for open drug use, according to Sim.
When Vancouver is Awesome asked about what happens to those who require care after getting their drugs confiscated, Sim said, “That’s why we’re lobbying for the voluntary and involuntary care beds.” According to BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services, an individual can be admitted into involuntary care for 48 hours if a medical professional certifies them under the Mental Health Act. A doctor can then acquire an additional certificate to detain an individual for up to one month under their discretion.
The Peak spoke to SFU professor of substance use and drug policy, Dr. Kora DeBeck, to understand the potential impact of Sim’s proposed changes. DeBeck viewed the plebiscites as a pathway towards increased policing, and does not believe it will reduce drug use. “They can try and arrest [people] and put them in jail, but then they’ll be back out on the street and the same things will be continuing,” she shared. “Police have never been a good tool or appropriate tool to deal with public drug use and street disorder. Police are often the first to say that this shouldn’t be something that they’re doing.”
DeBeck added that the core issues underlying widespread drug use include a “lack of housing, a lack of alternative places for people to go, and a very toxic, unregulated drug supply.” She shared, “The idea that we’re going to somehow police our way out of a housing crisis and addiction crisis is very misplaced and I think it’s quite performative.”
In terms of converting a part of St. Paul’s Hospital into an involuntary care centre, DeBeck remains wary. “Involuntary treatment is something that sounds very appealing to the public, in terms of, it’s a way to help people who are in crisis and who are perceived to not be making good decisions for their health and for society,” she said. However, she shared that the research and data behind involuntary care for substance dependence shows a different story. “Forcing people into any kind of treatment when they’re not ready and they don’t feel that they have agency is not best practice,” DeBeck told The Peak.
She added that, at these care centres, treatment of substance use disorder with opioid addiction medications can be helpful if people stay on the medication, but highlighted two Canadian studies which both concluded that many discontinue these medications. She shared several studies that concluded these drugs elevate the risk of a fatal overdose after treatment or hospitalization. “When they are on something like suboxone or methadone [opioid addiction medication], their tolerance for opioids goes down; if they relapse, which is very common when people [don’t continue with] medication, they’re much more likely to have a fatal overdose.
“I am very concerned about [involuntary care for substance use]. There’s so many risks associated with it and I don’t think the public understands how limited our toolbox is around substance dependence.
“This is not something that is a logical policy initiative that would be expected to actually have an impact on what the public is seeing.”
— Kora DeBeck, SFU professor of substance use and drug policy
“This is not [a] logical policy initiative that would be expected to actually have an impact on the problem the public is seeing, [which is] lots of people, essentially, just suffering on the street.”
ABC’s official plebiscite proposal notes that, legally speaking, the questions are “recommendations in nature,” as the majority of the laws and bylaws targeted, such as converting St. Pauls’ into an involuntary care site, remains “under provincial jurisdiction.”
The City’s current drug strategy is based on four pillars: prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and enforcement. These are partially implemented through overdose prevention sites and safe injection sites, which prevent and treat overdoses. However, one overdose prevention site in Vancouver’s downtown core was permanently closed earlier this year. Additionally, street-level drug seizures are common modes of enforcement, with a recent study highlighting that drug seizures were conducted in the first year of the failed decriminalization program.
The Peak reached out to Green Party councillor and mayoral candidate Pete Fry, to learn more. “It is a cynical election tactic, paired with a privately funded petition designed to exploit public frustration and drive turnout.” Fry shared, “The non-binding questions on Vancouver’s ballot are an attempt by Sim and ABC to conflate a complex health crisis with public safety concerns in order to stoke fear and mobilize voters, rather than deliver real solutions.”
ABC councillor Pete Meiszner backed the plebiscite. He told Daily Hive, “Vancouver residents have had enough of the humanitarian crisis playing out on our streets and the people caught up in it [ . . . ] Residents, particularly those of us who live in the heart of the city have become desensitized. Desensitized to seeing people outside our homes, in our alleyways and on our streets in the depths of unimaginable misery and despair.”
The Peak reached out to ABC councillors Lisa Dominato, Pete Meiszner, Sarah Kirby-Yung, and mayor Ken Sim for a comment, however did not receive a response by the publication deadline.
