Pubdate: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 Source: World Entertainment News Network Website: http://www.wenn.org/ Copyright: 1998 The World Entertainment News Network. IRVINE WELSH STEERS CLEAR OF HEROIN CHIC TRAINSPOTTING Author IRVINE WELSH always avoids romanticising his former addiction to heroin and hates admitting he was a junkie. The author, who recently finished the screenplay to his book THE ACID HOUSE, was for years a regular user of the killer drug. Welsh certainly isn't proud of his drug past - despite the fact that Trainspotting was criticised for glamorising the substance. He says, "I feel embarrassed to admit that I was a junkie. It's nothing that I'd want to boast about. Certainly I'd feel a really horrible failure if I got into heroin again now I've got money." There are two differences between Welsh and the people he portrays - money and class. He says, "That's the horrible thing about it - there's no way that I could compare my reasons with those of someone in a scheme with no opportunities. "There's all sorts of different reasons for addiction, but social class is one of the most powerful ones." - --- Checked-by: Rich O'Grady