Twenty-five years ago Trainspotting made us sit up and care about drug misuse. Now we’re back in denial

#1 THE FILM

Choices. That’s what it comes down to. Choosing life, choosing not to choose life.

These are the questions that open Trainspotting, the Danny Boyle film of the Irvine Welsh book that did more than just cement the careers of Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald and more, but exposed the underbelly of Edinburgh and Scotland’s drug subculture.

Released on February 23 1996, it shook up ideas of national identity (coming only a few months after Braveheart, where it seemed less shite but equally messy being Scottish) and stirred debate around drugs and drug users.

Trainspotting gave an insight into the chaotic lives of a section of society we try to ignore. It showed that when it comes to choice, addiction is about lack of choice, where a set of circumstances – poverty, lack of opportunity, nature and nurture – combine so that there seems no other option, nothing else to live for.

These circumstances have, if anything, worsened since the film’s release and the economic havoc brought by the pandemic is wreaking similar havoc to the cuts in the 1980s when the story is set that led to Edinburgh being known as the ‘Aids capital of Europe’.

Instead of users choosing not to make the right choices, the last quarter of a century has shown that it is policymakers and the government choosing not to save lives. The need to find a quick fix is more urgent than ever.

#2 THE AUTHOR

'I think we're as much in denial about drug abuse as ever'

“When the book became a film, I wasn’t particularly surprised that