Province cancels plans for downtown Vancouver overdose prevention site
Posted August 25, 2026 12:52 pm.
Last Updated August 25, 2026 12:51 pm.
After facing backlash from local businesses, residents and the City of Vancouver, the province has opted not to go ahead with an overdose prevention site (OPS) at 900 Helmcken Street.
The news was welcomed by Mayor Ken Sim, who took to X Monday to thank the province for listening to the voices of Vancouverites.
“If the vast majority of individuals — local residents, businesses, even people that used to have substance-use disorder, if they have been in involuntary care — didn’t want this drug injection site, so it’s the voice of the people,” he said.
In May, Sim held a press conference across the street from the proposed site to voice his opposition. He was joined by local business members in the Downtown BIA.
The OPS had been intended to fill the gap left by a similar facility on Howe Street, which was shuttered last year following complaints from members of the community.
“They have already experienced two other previous drug injection sites that failed miserably and brought chaos to the neighborhood, and they didn’t want a third,” Sim said.
While the site will remain vacant, Health Minister Ravi Kahlon says the discussion is far from over.
“The question for us is… how do we make sure we have overdose prevention-related supports?” Kahlon said.
“I think that will be a tough conversation but a necessary one.”
For one harm-reduction advocate, the loss of this site may have the opposite impact on public safety.
“Shutting down a supervised consumption site makes the whole community an unsupervised consumption site,” said Garth Mullins.
Mullins says he is disappointed not just by the decision, but also because he feels the city’s most vulnerable are being used for political purposes.
“We know what works and doesn’t work, and their plan works for them, because it gets them elected,” he said.
“It doesn’t work for us, because we keep dying. It doesn’t work for the voters who they tell that their communities will be cleaner and safer.”
Throughout this process, Sim has identified the need for increased secure treatment and involuntary care beds as his preferred path forward. He will be presenting that question to voters in a plebiscite when they head to the polls in October.
