People in Scotland are still binge drinking at weekends

Dr Laurence Gruer, who advises NHS Health Scotland on public health issues, told BBC Scotland it was the only way to reverse the death rate.

Overall, alcohol kills four times as many people in Scotland as it did a generation ago.

Dr Gruer's call coincides with a conference in Glasgow on alcohol abuse.

Entitled "Scotland's Hangover - Wake up to the Problem", the seminar has been organised by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG) in collaboration with Alcohol Focus Scotland and the Scottish Executive.

The things that have been shown to work across the world are increasing the price of alcohol and also reducing the availability of alcohol Dr Laurence Gruer

Organisers said the aim was to "challenge decision makers to wake up to Scotland's problem, look beyond the statistics and propose action that has a realistic prospect of changing the way we think about and use drink".

It was hoped that longer European-style drinking hours would encourage people in Scotland to have a more relaxed attitude to alcohol.

But as well as adopting the continental way of drinking with meals, Scots are binge-drinking at weekends.

While alcohol consumption in countries like Italy and France has fallen, levels are soaring in Scotland.

The fastest increase has been in rural areas such as the islands, Ayrshire and the Borders.

Education 'failing'

Dr Gruer is one of Scotland's most respected experts in public health.

He told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "The results of education in schools to try and discourage kids from early drinking have been very, very disappointing, with very little effect.

"The things that have been shown to work across the world are increasing the price of alcohol and also reducing the availability of alcohol by having few outlets and making them available for shorter periods of the day.

Over the past five years there has been a 22% increase in the number of patients leaving general hospitals having had an alcohol related problem Professor Graham Teesdale RCPSG president

"We've tended to go the opposite direction in both those aspects."

Professor Graham Teesdale, president of the RCPSG, said that while the problem had worsened in recent years the overall issue of Scotland's binge drinking culture was generations old.

Prof Teesdale revealed that in 2002 overall alcohol consumption per head of the UK population was 11.1 litres, a 20% increase since 1993.

He said: "Over the past five years there has been a 22% increase in the number of patients leaving general hospitals having had an alcohol related problem.

"In the same period there has been a 36% increase in cases of alcohol related psychoses and a 41% increase in the number of patients with alcohol related liver disease."