August 22, 2023
42,375
454
177
1.49%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
You’re on August 22, 2023. Earlier episodes are to the left, later ones to the right — the row keeps loading as you go. Click any card to open it.
Aug 22, 20237:22Now PlayingThe novel and movie Trainspotting defined Scotland's drug problem.
Following the lives of a group of friends in Edinburgh, it depicted communities destroyed by heroin addiction.
Have things changed?
Sky News speaks to the novel's author Irvine Welsh on a day when figures showed a record drop in a drug deaths in Scotland - but the country remains the drug death capital of Europe.
He says the Trainspotting generation has simply been replaced by another who have no prospects of escaping addiction and deprivation.
"People do not have the choice now, there's no avenues of social mobility left out of that desperation," he said.
"When you don't have anything else, drugs win by default."
#drugaddiction #drugdeaths #scotland #dundee
SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for more videos
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on TikTok
For more content go to and download our appsApple Android
Sky News Daily podcast is available for free here
Sky News videos are now available in Spanish here/Los video de Sky News están disponibles en español aquí
To enquire about licensing Sky News content, you can find more information here
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.