Directed by Rob Heydon, the film stars Adam Sinclair as Lloyd Buist, a drug user who smuggles ecstasy from Amsterdam.

The romantic storyline is supplemented by a side plot involving Lloyd owing money to a shady character, Solo (Carlo Rota).

When Lloyd almost dies after a drug smuggling operation goes terribly wrong and faces the possibility of losing Heather, he decides to turn his life around, and he finds that natural highs might be the best of all.

The lead female character Heather was initially supposed to be played by actress Lisa Ray, but she was unable to commit due to having cancer.

The premiere of Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy was held at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on September 18, 2011 and Kristin Kreuk, Adam Sinclair, Billy Boyd, and Rob Heydon were present.

In September during the week of its premiere, the film was sold to 20 countries, including Portugal, South Africa, territories in Central America, the Czech Republic and Eastern Europe.

Its London premiere was held at Ministry of Sound on April 17, 2012 where Sinclair, Rota, Boyd, Andrup, Welsh and Heydon attended.

Dollena Campbell, through her company We Are Enchanted, spearheaded Outreach and Social Media Production for "Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy" to help spread the word on the film.

"[35] Eddie Harrison of The List stated that "... this is most definitely not Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy, but an agonisingly watered-down imitation, a long, languid come-down after the frenetic buzz of Trainspotting.

"[36] Tim Evans of Sky Movies wrote that "Heydon's no Danny Boyle and, although this shares many superfluous similarities with Trainspotting, it's as dated as warehouse parties and irritating smiley faces.

[44] The single "Beautiful World" by Tiësto and Mark Knight was released on an "Ecstasy Remixes" maxi-single on April 30, 2012 by "Toolroom Records".