The survey covered more than 2,500 Scouts from across Europe, aged between 16 and 22, were questioned.More than 80 per cent of those questioned said they were happy to get drunk and almost half said they would smoke marijuana if offered.

Nine out of 10 Scouts and Guides said they expected to have sex before they got married, and almost half said they would be happy to commit adultery.

"There was an open-mindedness about breaking the rules that is common among young people," said a spokesman for the Institute of the Innocents, a government-backed body which conducts research into children and families, and which compiled the results.

Around half the Scouts and Guides who took part were Italian, but British Scouts also responded.

Half the respondents said they believed in God, 39 percent said they had the right to an abortion if they needed one, and 91 per cent said they happily downloaded pirated material from the internet. The results were presented in Florence yesterday.

"It is not that surprising really," said Chiara Sapigni, president of the Italian Scouting Association. "Scouts are not a niche group, but they are children of our age, and they share the same slim respect for the rules that non Scouts have."

She added: "When Scouts are together, they share a set of ethical rules. The problem is their everyday lives. At school and in their free time, they behave just like their friends, and not just sexually. A significant part has little confidence in politicians, and does not respect the rules of society."

However, Andrew Thorp, of the British Scouts Association, said: "We don't feel that this survey is representative of the Scout movement in general."

Knowing all of these facts the Boy Scouts of America still discriminates against Gays. The Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America can bar homosexuals from being troop leaders. The Justices by a 5-4 vote overturned a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that the dismissal of a gay Scout leader had been illegal under the state's anti-discrimination law.

The Boy Scouts, which also exclude atheists and agnostics as leaders, said it has the right to decide who can join its ranks.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist said for the court majority that applying a state public accommodations law to require the Boy Scouts to admit a gay troop leader violates the group's constitutional right of expressive association.