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Pushers Out: The Inside Story of Dublin's Anti-Drugs Movement

by André Lyder

250 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-2907; ISBN 1-4120-5099-5; US$26.50, C$30.33, EUR22.00, £15.50

For two decades, a community anti-drugs campaign in Dublin captured headlines amidst criticisms of vigilantism and IRA involvement. Pushers Out, written by a prominent campaigner, vividly documents the campaign.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

For two decades Dublin working class communities, in the face of official neglect, fought to overcome an epidemic of heroin abuse that engulfed them. Led, variously, by the Concerned Parents Against Drugs (CPAD) and the Coalition of Communities Against Drugs (COCAD) organisations, the campaign captured headlines as a result of the policy of directly confronting drug pushers. At the same time pressure was continually applied to the government and statutory agencies for concerted action to address the drug crisis.

While successful in mobilising communities and impacting on the heroin problem the campaign was marked by continuous conflict with the authorities and dogged by criticisms of vigilantism and of being a front for the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Pushers Out, which fully addresses these charges, is a detailed account of the development of the heroin problem in Dublin and the response of the affected communities. It is the engrossing story of the anti-drugs movement as seen through the eyes of one of its most prominent campaigners. The well written memoir provides, for the first time, the inside story of a campaign described as 'undoubtedly one of the most significant social movements to emerge from Dublin's working class communities.'

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About the Author

Born in 1957 in Georgetown, Guyana, to an Irish mother and a Guyanese father, André Lyder was educated at Blackrock College, Dublin, and the University of Guelph, Ontario. Living and working in Dublin's inner city for some ten years he became active in the anti-drugs movement in 1996, soon assuming a position on the executive committee of the Coalition of Communities Against Drugs (COCAD) and acting as spokesperson of the organisation. In 1997, he was appointed Chair of the task force established by the Irish government to address the heroin problem in Dublin's south inner city. Lyder currently resides in Owen Sound, Ontario.

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Excerpts

The marches, particularly the larger ones in areas like Cabra or the north inner city were spectacular. There was always a great buzz of excitement around them. At the front there were invariably gangs of kids anxious to be the first to arrive at the intended destination to get a good view of any confrontation. Behind them a line of stewards: hardy, security conscious men with an eye out for any areas from which an attack could be launched on the march. Then the mass of people: elderly people, women pushing prams, neighbours chatting to each other about the days events, teenagers laughing together, activists from different parts of the city greeting each other. The powerful torches we had taken to using cut patterns through the night sky.

'What do we want?' would come the question through a megaphone.

'Pushers Out!' the crowd would roar.

'When do we want it?'

'Now!'

'Pushers, pushers, pushers....' would come the call through the megaphone.

'Out, Out, Out!' the crowd would enthusiastically respond.

Arriving at the destination of the march a hush would descend as tension mounted. The torches would flit from house to house before all fixing on one and a murmur would go up from the crowd. Then a further tense pause as a couple of activists stepped forward to knock at the door and deliver the message, 'You're not wanted in this community'. Any belligerence would meet with a mass response.

'What do we want?'

'Pushers out', a thousand or more voices would roar.

It was difficult to argue against.

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Catalogue Information

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