Ketamine could be licensed as a medical treatment for depression within 18 months.

Scientists have been stunned by the party drug’s success in clinical trials, which have found it is up to 10 times more effective than current drugs in people suffering from treatment-resistant depression.

It would be the first new drug for 35 years for depression, a notoriously difficult condition to treat that the Royal College of Psychiatrists estimates afflicts one in five people during their lifetime.

Doctors backed by the National Institute for Health Research in Oxford have drawn up a three-point strategy for its launch to counter potential controversy and concerns.

It comes just months after the Government allowed the prescription of medicinal cannabis after facing criticism for denying it to children suffering from illnesses such as epilepsy.

The medical form of ketamine is likely to be licensed in the next year, said one psychiatrist. Ketamine, which is approved for medicinal and veterinary use as an anaesthetic, has been a popular party drug because of its cheapness and higher purity than cocaine. It has also been implicated in cases of “date rape”.