Setting
Trainspotting is set in the late 1980s, a period when Thatcher's Conservatives manned the helm of the largest unemployment crisis since the 1930s. As Scotland's industrial heartlands suffered blow after blow in the form of factory, shipyard, and mine closures, the country gritted its teeth and prepared for the hardship of a post-industrial economy. Over the course of Thatcher's leadership, the unemployed skyrocketed to just over 3 million.
The resulting miners' strikes in 1984 and beyond would come to symbolise the battle between the Thatcher regime and the trade union movement, and even become a source of national pride. However, not all took to the picket lines to rebel. Countless young people found solace in the alternative music scene, but others took a far darker path.
Heroin use had been steadily increasing in the country over the course of the decade as it made its way over from the Middle East, with users entering the thousands by the early 80s. Administered intravenously, it was relatively cheap, and many hit by the malaise of poverty and unemployment took to the drug as a form of escape.
As theft, prostitution, and burglaries shot up to fund the growing heroin epidemic, it became apparent that the police, at least, had plenty of work on their hands.
Scotland's drug problem has far from disappeared. Survivors of the Trainspotter generation struggle with the habit to this day, with some passing it on to the younger generations. In this way, Welsh's nightmare story is repeated over and over again.
Information drawn from CNN's article `Trainspotting turned a spotlight on Scotland's heroin problem. 25 years on, it's Europe's drug death capital´.