Welcome back to our “Meet the Candidates” series, where District 6 supervisor candidates respond to a question in 100 words or fewer. Answers are published every Tuesday.
District 6 includes SoMa, Mission Bay, Treasure Island and Yerba Buena. Its current supervisor, Matt Dorsey, was appointed by Mayor London Breed on May 9, 2022. He is up for re-election this November against one challenger, Alex Behrend. Because Behrend does not meet our guidelines here, he is not included in this series.
SoMa is one of the neighborhoods most impacted by San Francisco’s overdose crisis. In the last four years, data analyzed by the Department of Public Health found that overdose deaths were “highly concentrated” in SoMa and the Tenderloin, compared to other neighborhoods.
Citywide, overdose deaths have fallen from their 2023 peak of 810, — echoing a nationwide decline that could be the result of a wide range of factors, including expanded access to naloxone and addiction treatment. The Medical Examiner recorded 625 accidental overdose deaths in 2025. Another 351 people died between January and August 2026, according to preliminary data released by the city in September.
Starting in 2025, under Mayor Daniel Lurie, City Hall also began to restrict some harm-reduction practices — public-health strategies aimed at reducing the harms of drug use without requiring that people stop using drugs in order to access help.
In April 2025, the city barred city-funded programs from distributing pipes, foil and other safer-smoking supplies in public spaces, and required safer-use distribution to include counseling and attempts to connect people to treatment. The policy left naloxone, and the city’s longstanding syringe-access programs, in place.
Meanwhile, Dorsey, advanced a “Recovery First” ordinance to the Board of Supervisors, which sought to make cessation of illegal drug use and long-term recovery the primary goal of city drug policy. After criticism from physicians and harm-reduction advocates, the ordinance was amended to include some forms of harm reduction, before passing in May 2025. Dorsey has also endorsed the “Four Pillars” approach, a drug-policy framework developed in Switzerland in the 1990s that combines prevention, treatment, harm reduction and law enforcement.
The impact of these changes to city harm reduction policies are unclear. But preliminary evidence suggests that smoking opioids carries fewer health risks than injecting them. A 2025 study co-authored by UCSF addiction researcher Dr. Daniel Ciccarone found that people in treatment who primarily smoked opioids had about 30 percent lower mortality than people who injected them. A 2024 California study found that people who smoked fentanyl exclusively reported roughly 30 percent fewer nonfatal overdoses than those who injected it.
Smoking also makes drug use more conspicuous than injecting. “Politics is all about optics,” Ciccarone said, describing why he believes safer-smoking supplies have become politically contentious in San Francisco.
In SoMa, where residents and business owners have complained about public drug use and street disorder, the political debate reflects tensions between public-health goals and concerns about street conditions.
This week’s question: Should San Francisco continue funding harm-reduction services for people who use drugs? If so, which ones?
Mission Local color codes the answers to yes/no questions. A blue background means the candidate answered yes, an orange background means no and a yellow background means that the candidate answered ambiguously.
Matt Dorsey
- Job: Current District 6 Supervisor
- Age: 61
- Residency: Renter, living in District 6 since 2008, has lived in San Francisco since 1990 (except for four years in Washington, D.C.).
- Transportation: Public transit, walking, biking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from Emerson College
- Languages: English
- Website: Reelect Matt Dorsey 2026
Yes. I support a Four Pillars approach to drug policy: prevention, treatment, harm reduction and enforcement. Harm reduction plays an important role in our services continuum, but we can’t settle for harm reduction being the end goal of our drug policies and programs. San Francisco should continue to fund naloxone distribution, drug-checking services, syringe access, and low-barrier connections to medications for addiction. Beyond harm reduction, we also need treatment on demand, more recovery and drug-free housing, effective prevention, and enforcement against drug dealing and public drug use. Our goal should be fewer deaths, less addiction, and more people achieving recovery.
Endorsed by: Mayor Daniel Lurie, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, Senator Scott Wiener … read more here.
Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at sarah@missionlocal.com // io@missionlocal.com.
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.
