NICOLA Sturgeon has apologised to the families of the Scots who’ve died from drug related deaths, telling MSPs that they had been "let down" by her government.

During Thursday’s First Minister’s Questions, she said she could not “defend the indefensible”.

The latest statistics from the National Records of Scotland, released on Tuesday, revealed that 1264 people died in 2019, up 6% on the previous year.

READ MORE: Joe FitzPatrick urged to resign over 'heartbreaking' drug death figures

Nearly seven in 10 of those who died last year were male and more than two-thirds were aged 35 – 54.

According to the NRS, Scotland’s drug-death rate was higher than those reported for all the EU countries and was approximately three and a half times that of the UK as a whole.

Sturgeon said the figures were “completely unacceptable” and promised to intervene. 

“We have much to do to sort this out and sorting this out is our responsibility and it is a serious responsibility. Behind every single one of these statistics is a human being whose life mattered, someone's son or daughter, mother or father, brother or sister and I am sorry to every family who has suffered grief. 

“Every person who dies an avoidable death because of drug use is being, has been let down. 

“The fact is this is difficult and complex but that is not an excuse”.

The First Minister said she would be attending the next meeting of the Scottish Government’s Drug Death Task Force on January 12 and would “take stock with the task force and to consider what further immediate steps we need to take.”

She promised to make a statement in the chamber before the end of the next month.

Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson hit out at cuts to rehab services, giving MSPs the example of Castle Creek, which in 2002 admitted 257 NHS patients. 

Last year, it took just five. 

Other rehab beds, she said, were being used by patients from outside Scotland, because the Scottish Government no longer funded them. 

Davidson pointed out that back in 2006, the First Minister as an opposition minister: “stood where I am, right on this spot, berating the then Scottish Government for cutting rehab funding. In fact, she went farther and she claimed that it showed why Scotland needed a new Government. 

“If cuts to rehab funding were to be condemned in 2006 as they should have been, why does the first minister think that they should be accepted now?”

Sturgeon replied: “I said at the outset of the exchange that I am not going to give political answers. I think many of the criticisms that are being made of the government are valid and legitimate and I think we have got much work”.

She added: “It is not true to say that work is not being done, considerable work is being done, but as I said in my original answer, I do believe there are hard questions for us to address about whether that work is sufficient and whether it has been done quickly enough and I'm not going to shy away from that today.”

READ MORE: Scots who died drug deaths 'let down by society and partisan squabbling’ 

Sturgeon said funding for drug and alcohol services had increased apart from in two years, though she admitted that it may not have “increased sufficiently or adequately”.

She also said there were questions over whether the drug death task force was doing enough work and whether it is going quickly enough.

“I take that seriously. This is not comfortable, it shouldn't be comfortable. I am not going to stand here and try to defend the indefensible.

"These lives matter too much and we owe it to those who have lost their lives, but we owe it to those whose lives that can still be saved, to make sure that people like me do not engage in the usual political defensiveness, but accept where criticisms are due and valid and redouble our efforts to make sure that we are doing the right things to resolve this.”

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Labour’s Richard Leonard said the SNP had had 13 years to try and fix the drug death crisis. 

“Instead we've seen cuts to funding for rehabilitation beds, cuts to the funding of alcohol and drugs partnerships, cuts to third sector support and rehabilitation organisations and an abject failure to integrate mental health and substance use and recovery services.”

Sturgeon said: “I absolutely accept it is for this government to sort out, I have not mentioned any other government. I have not made any reference to powers that lie elsewhere. I am focused on what we need to do and what we are determined to do. our set out the action. 

She added: “There are issues as we have canvassed in this chamber many times before over where legal responsibility for things like safe consumption rooms lie. 

“That is an important part of this. but it is not the only part. My starting point is what powers we have right now and what the responsibility of this government is and that's how I intend to proceed and we will continue to have discussions about the the issues that lie outwith our powers, but the starting point is what this government is responsible for and it's this government's responsibility to sort this out.“

There was more pressure on Public Health minister Joe FitzPatrick, with Leonard and other MSPs calling for him to be replaced. 

Labour's Neil Findlay urged her to listen to the voices in parliament who "believe that in government we need someone who's competent and capable of driving change at ministerial level".

The First Minister, who yesterday said she had full confidence in her cabinet colleague, said she would work with her team of miisters "to make sure thata we are supporting the task force in the work it is doing and making sure the right steps have been taken and there is sufficient pace behind those to fix the problem that we all agree is unacceptable."