There was a great turnout at the Dublin IFI for the special cinema screening of The Hardest Hit, Philly McMahon’s RTÉ drugs documentary, which has now been watched by upwards of 400,000 people.
Organised by the Ana Liffey Drug Project, the London School of Economics and Hot Press, the accompanying Q+A found Radio 1’s Audrey Carville chatting to Philly and his mum Val who spoke with great eloquence about her son, John, who died in 2012 as a result of his heroin use.
Talking in the Christmas issue of Hot Press, Philly, our Activist of the Year, says that public protests are needed to highlight Ireland’s drug overdose rate, which is amongst the highest per capita in Europe.
“There are no people out marching,” he notes. “We’ve had two massive changes – same-sex marriage and abortion – here over the past two years, in large part because thousands took to the streets and convinced politicians that there were votes in it for them. People are dying on our streets, yet there are no marches or mass movement to say, ‘This has to stop!’ I’m going to make sure that changes.
“Every year, we see thousands of people go to the Phoenix Park for Pieta House’s ‘Darkness Into Life’, which is brilliant,” he added. “We need something powerful and public like that for those whose lives have been affected by drugs.”
Read the full powerful interview in the Christmas issue of Hot Press with Bruce and Clarence on the cover.

The Hardest Hit Screening 13th Dec 2018 from Ana Liffey Drug Project on Vimeo.