Pusher Street: Carsten Norton's tale of the hash trade in Christiania
A documentary overview of five decades of crime history in Copenhagen
What is the book about?
Pusher Street – a tale (Gyldendal, 2025) is written by crime journalist Carsten Norton and constitutes the most comprehensive documentary work on the 100 meters of cobblestones that have defined Danish drug policy and organized crime for decades. The book begins in May 1989, when a group of women on Christiania drove the hash dealers out of the area known as Prærien and forced them down into the street that would later become world-famous as Pusher Street. Through access to documents, classified files, and interviews with police officers, smugglers, and residents, Norton depicts a transformation from a social experiment to a ruthless economic machine run by organized criminal groups.
The real story
The real story of Pusher Street spans five decades and involves a wide range of actors. In the 1970s, the trade was characterized by the idealism of the hippie environment, but this changed drastically in the 1980s when biker gangs began to infiltrate the market. Carsten Norton describes in the book how the professionalization in the 1990s led to the formation of complex networks consisting of wholesalers, runners, and cutters. The story of the street is also the story of the Copenhagen Police's countless operations, including the clearing of the street in 2004 and the subsequent years of violent conflicts that culminated in shootings and murders in the 2020s, ultimately leading to the decision to dig up the street in 2024. The book gives a voice to the people who have lived in and off the street, including the Christianites who tried to reconcile an anti-capitalist project with a criminal market driven by million-dollar profits.
About the author
Carsten Norton (born 1972) is one of Denmark's most experienced crime journalists. Throughout a long career at, among others, Ekstra Bladet, he has closely covered the Danish underworld. He is known for his thorough sourcing and his ability to gain access to closed environments. Norton has previously published several critically acclaimed books on Danish criminal history, including works on the biker war and major drug cases, making him an authority on the subject of organized crime in Denmark.