Thread by @paraschopra

Depression is terrible, and severe forms of it could make people suicidal.

New research is finding that psychedelics are much more effective than anti-depressants at treating depression.

1/ For example, this randomised trial study that just came out found 70% of patients reduced depression symptoms within a week (as compared to anti depressant with 33% efficacy)

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

2/ Unfortunately, even though evidence is accumulating on benefits of these drugs, they are still classified as Schedule 1 drugs in India.

Which means not even medical research is allowed.

See this by @Somaa_org

somaa.org/copy-of-campai…

3/ Indians account for 25% of worlds suicides and its estimated that 5% of adult population has some sort of suicidality. thelancet.com/journals/lanps…

50+ million Indians suffer from depression.

4/ Add this to the fact that we are a nation of one of the least number of mental health doctors in the world at merely 0.3 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, while WHO recommends a number 10 times that figure.

swachhindia.ndtv.com/world-mental-h…

5/ All this calls for an urgent re-evaluation of our archaic drug laws.

India needs to allow any drug to be researched for medical purpose.

Alcohol and nicotine are far more damaging than psychedelics, so the least we should do it to allow such drugs for therapy.