Will Trainspotting breed junkies?
First the hype, now the hysteria. Trainspotting, the new film about Scotland’s growing band of heroin addicts, has already become the most talked-about movie of the year – even before it goes on general release this week. Empire magazine has hailed the screen adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s cult novel as “a violent, engaging, energetic masterpiece” and thousands of youngsters have already bought tickets. Trainspotting, made by the Glasgow-based trio behind last year’s top- selling British feature, Shallow Grave, was conceived before the latest spate of Ecstasy, heroin and temazepam-related deaths. After Leah Betts, Hanger 13 and the heroin wars played out on the streets of Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow, any film depicting drug abuse was bound to attract attention. But the hysteria surrounding Trainspotting is unprecedented. Some commentators, who did not condemn the novel or the play, say the film glamorises drugs and should be banned The row started where all good moral crusades begi
