A MAJORITY of Scots think alcohol is the drug that causes most harm to society, newly published survey results show.

Some 51% of respondents to a module from the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2007 said alcohol was the drug which causes most problems for Scotland, compared with 22% who said heroin and 9% who said tobacco.

The data puts into focus Scotland's ambivalent relationship with alcohol, showing that while two-thirds of people (67%) think alcohol is "a major part of the Scottish way of life", nearly half (48%) think the amount we drink is something "of which everyone should be ashamed".

Other findings from the independent survey, run by the Scottish Centre for Social Research, include: l 47% of people think those with serious drink problems "have only themselves to blame", while 31% disagree.

l Around half can correctly identify the number of units in a pint of beer or a measure of spirits - but only 15% know a bottle of wine contains 8-10 units.

l Only 41% can correctly identify the recommended daily limit for women as two to three units, while only 34% know that men are advised to drink no more than three to four units.

l 89% of women and 80% of men recognise that hazardous drinking (drinking more than the weekly guidelines of 21 units for men and 14 for women on a regular basis) is "very" or "fairly likely" to damage health if continued long-term.

Public health minister Shona Robison said: "These results highlight the complex relationship Scotland has with alcohol. While most people agree that drinking alcohol is part of Scottish culture, many of us are worried about how much we're drinking and the consequences for our health and wider society.

"The results appear to show many people still don't know how many units of alcohol their pint of beer or glass of wine contains - meaning they could well be drinking above recommended limits."