SAYING YES TO DRUGS

The Author Of "Trainspotting" Talks About His New Book

It has been nearly six years since the film version of Irvine Welsh's book
"Trainspotting" came out, catapulting the Scottish author into the literary
limelight and popularizing the term "heroin chic." Critics panned his two
follow-up novels for pushing style over substance. They both made
international best-seller lists anyway. His latest work, "Glue," the story
of four boys from the Edinburgh "schemes," or ghettos, growing up-and
getting dragged down-together, has been receiving rave reviews on both
sides of the Atlantic. Critics are saying that Welsh, 42, is finally
writing his age. During his U.S. book tour, he spoke with NEWSWEEK's Babak
Dehghanpisheh at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan. Excerpts:

DEHGHANPISHEH: You've made your reputation by writing about drugged-out
characters. What's your drug of choice? WELSH: I stopped drinking and doing
drugs in January because I ran the London Marathon. I had to work hard to
get into shape. But I just realized how much I enjoy going out and getting
f--ed up. During the past month I must have done every kind of drug possible.

What's your experience with heroin?

I was on heroin in the early '80s, and people were saying, "You've got to
get off that stuff." I came back a few years later, and they were on it. It
was like a massive epidemic. People weren't necessarily hard-core smack
addicts; they were just trying it because it was there.

You've spoken out publicly for a more common-sense approach to drug policy.
With the success of movies like "Traffic," do you see a shift in the debate
on drugs?

The new debate on drugs brought on by pop culture is taking place among the
populace, not the policymakers. The politicians want to keep things behind
closed doors. They like the illicitness of it. I don't understand why drugs
aren't legalized and taxed; it would cut out a lot of the criminality. Look
at Prohibition in the United States. Politicians fight a phony war against
drugs and use it to institute more repressive measures against poor
communities."

Are you still into the dance scene?

I still love going to Ibiza and all that. But the dance music has this kind
of corporate, bingo-hall feel to it. It's been appropriated by commercialism.

How do drugs tie in?

Every youth culture has had its own drugs. It's about an affirmation of the
joy of life and a celebration of ritual. It's also about escape. If the
world were better, you wouldn't need to get out of it.

You've become a "cult" icon in the literary world. Is there a certain
degree of stereotyping that goes along with this?

If I don't write about Scottish "schemies" on drugs in every book, then I
get accused of selling out. If I do, I get accused of not growing-it's like
saying Alice Walker or Toni Morrison shouldn't write about black people.
I'm now working on a piece about a witch doctor and two warlords in
southern Sudan, not a drug dealer in sight. I don't know how that will go down.

Where do you dig up the unpleasant characters that have made you famous?

People ask, "How can you write these sort of horrible, right-wing,
misogynistic characters?" and I say just listen to their type of music and
really feel it. I've got all of this Michael Bolton and heavy-metal stuff
so I can understand the characters in every way.

There is a feeling of working-class desperation hidden beneath the humor in
many of your books.

Growing up in the [Edinburgh] housing schemes, there weren't any resources
to get you out-you were trapped in a ghetto. It split the working class
between the upwardly mobile and the ones who were stuck. There really was
no aspirational middle class.

Has your criticism of this class system been recognized?

When "Trainspotting" first came out, the Conservatives were in power [in
Britain]. A lot of people in the Labour Party said, "Oh, what a great book
this is, all these horrible years of Thatcherism, it's a savage indictment
of the Tories." But as soon as they got to power, they carried on with
exactly the same policies as the Tories. The Labour Party have now become
masters of spin.

How does that compare with your impression of class in the United States?

The United States is more of a meritocratic society. There aren't as many
of the social barriers that exist in the U.K. In the U.S. someone can make
their money and go spend it, but in the U.K. people will find all sorts of
reasons to turn up their noses because you have the wrong shoes or wrong tie.

If you weren't writing, what would you be doing?

I'd definitely be doing music. I'm in a band called Hibee Nation, but we
haven't practiced in 18 months. We had three singles, and they all bombed.
We've got to get back to the studio, or we'll never see each other again.