Censor: film was drugs ad

THE FILM Pulp Fiction glamourised drug-taking so much it may have increased heroin abuse, James Ferman, the departing director of the British Board of Film Classification, said yesterday.

Some scenes in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film were "practically an advertisement" for heroin and Tarantino was "socially irresponsible", Mr Ferman told the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence.

"We didn't cut the film, and I don't know, looking back, whether that was a good idea. I still wonder whether injection has increased since this film was out, because it was going to increase the glamour of injection considerably," he said.

Many under 18s saw the film, particularly on video, although that was changed to obscure a needle entering a vein.