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Heroin Use in Popular Culture

Heroin may be listed as one of the most dangerous drugs in the world - if not the most dangerous - but this hasn’t stopped it from working up something of a following in the world of popular culture. From the beginnings of the legal drug, prescribed to children and advocated by doctors across the world to the more recent offerings from literature and film, heroin has taken a place in the world of modern culture and holds a mystique and air of genuine curiosity for people around the world - most of which have never touched, and will never touch heroin, opium or even morphine.

A fair few famous persons through history have been addicted to heroin, and many of those have created art for the world to enjoy based around their experiences. In the world of literature, the groundbreaking beat novelist William S Burroughs wrote the novel 'Junkie', a semi-autobiographical account of his experiences on heroin through the 1950s.

In more recent years, Irvine Welsh penned the novel 'Trainspotting', which followed the exploits of a group of heroin addicts in Scotland, and was later made into a popular movie of the same name. There have been a number of other movies concerning heroin addiction, including such pictures as 'Panic In Needle Park' and 'The Basketball Diaries', as well as 2000's 'Requiem For A Dream'. Music is another area that the famous heroin user has had successes in introducing the idea of addiction to the masses - John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Sabbath and The Ramones have all had songs or even albums directly related to heroin use and abuse, amongst many other artists.

Even though heroin has such an affirmed place in popular culture, it never tends to be glamorised in any way, such is the harm that the drug causes. While some critics maintain that movies such as 'Trainspotting' portrayed the use of heroin in too much of a happy go lucky light, it is clear for most to see that this is simply not the case - it may be a muse to some, or an invigorating subject matter to others, but to most people heroin is nothing but a curiosity.