Scots actor Alex Norton reveals heroin use in past

Scots actor Alex Norton, revealed in an interview how he took heroin in his youth. Picture Robert Perry

The popular actor, who played the lead role in the police drama Taggart for eight years, spoke about how he worried his misuse of the drug could have landed him in jail.

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The 64-year-old, who spoke about his drug use in a candid interview with the Herald newspaper, said that problems with addiction and depression plagued him during his early career and admitted that he took the drug to alleviate the pressure, he said: “The drug is so evil and pernicious. You start to take it and it seems like a bit of fun.

“You feel great and all your anxieties disappear. But then you realise you want more.”

Norton, went on to develop an illustrious TV and film career, with roles in movies including the blockbusters Braveheart and Patriot Games.

The actor attributes his earlier problems with depression to the grief he felt at the death of his mother when he was just 15, which he says was also exacerbated by a lack of confidence.

For him, the heroin was a way out, however he eventually realised the scale of the problem and began to turn his life around. He said:

“I went too far. And before I knew it I was sitting outside a drug dealers flat at midnight, waiting to buy smack.

“I throw myself headlong into things. I’ve taken lots of chances. But heroin was a chance too far.”

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