For Renton og hans arbejderklassevenner i Edinburgh er der to former for eksistens. Enten er de totalt stenede, eller også skal de prøve at blive totalt stenede. Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge) spiller narkomanen Renton, som skiftevis er på den og stoffri, og han er også filmens fortæller. Måske slipper han aldrig væk fra den rutschebane, han befinder sig i. Nogle vil mene, at han nok snarere vil blive båret væk. Men vi kan nyde denne vilde filmiske rutschebanetur og selv vælge at stige af.
A poet falls in love with an art student, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle — and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
Undercover cop Jim Raynor (Jason Patric) is a seasoned veteran. His partner, Kristen Cates (Jennifer Jason Leigh), is lacking in experience, but he thinks she's tough enough to work his next case with him: a deep cover assignment to bring down the notoriously hard-to-capture drug lord Gaines (Gregg Allman). While their relationship turns romantic during the assignment, they also turn into junkies, and will have to battle their own addictions if they want to bring down Gaines once and for all.
Frankie har netop været på heroinafvænning. Nu vender han hjem til sit gamle nabolag, fast besluttet på at lægge sit liv som illegal poker-kortgiver bag sig og starte en karriere som musiker. Men det er lettere sagt end gjort, og snart genoptager Frankie sine gamle uvaner.
Narkobetjenten Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle fortsætter sin jagt på den franske forbindelse i skikkelse af narkobaronen Charnier. Popeye følger sporet til Marseilles, hvor han sammen med det lokale politi gør livet surt for Charnier, der til gengæld forsøger at gøre Popeye afhængig af de selvsamme stoffer han bekæmper. Det gør dog bare Popeye endnu mere gal i skralden.
An alcoholic drifter must battle withdrawal and psychotic rednecks after he becomes the target of a deranged sporting event.
A junkie couple board themselves in their apartment while they try to kick their heroin habit.
Pluto and the cat, goaded by a TV commercial for turkey, raid the fridge and find a turkey inside. The cat gets there first and re-heats the turkey, first on the furnace duct, and then, trying to hide from Pluto, inside the tube-type TV - but he over-does it a bit.
Leo Regan follows his friend, photographer Lanre Fehintola, as he tries to go cold turkey (detox) from heroin in his council flat and without medication.
In this chilling documentary about the power of addiction, three friends take their fourth longtime pal Bryant "HairKutt" Johnson to a remote cabin in the Tennessee woods, hoping to force him to kick his heroin habit. The group must cut short their trip when HairKutt's body begins to fail without the drug, and after rushing him to a hospital, the friends are dismayed to find that he quickly returns to his old ways.