Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery
July 4, 2026
Christopher D. Verrico, Lynnette A. Averill, Cameron J Moore et al.
INTRODUCTION: Ibogaine is a naturally occurring indole alkaloid with suggested therapeutic potential across substance use disorders, trauma-related conditions, mood disorders, and suicidality. However, its clinical translation has been hindered by safety concerns, regulatory barriers, and uncertainty regarding its complex pharmacology. Recent interest has surged in developing ibogaine analogs...
Journal of Addiction Medicine
June 3, 2026
Ynhi T Thomas, Mubeen Iqbal, Chung J Mun et al.
Kratom ( Mitragyna speciosa ) is a psychoactive botanical with a long history of use in Southeast Asia and growing uptake in the United States for its analgesic, stimulant, and mood-altering properties. The evidence base remains limited, and retail products vary widely in composition and potency. This narrative review highlights what is known about kratom's pharmacology and suggests a practical...
Psychiatry Research
October 2018
Huiqiong Deng, Christopher D. Verrico, Thomas R Kosten et al.
Synthetic cannabinoid (SC) products have gained popularity as abused drugs over the past decade in many countries. The SCs broadly impact psychological state (e.g., mood, suicidal thoughts and psychosis) and physiological functions (e.g., cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and urinary). This review is about the effects of SCs on psychotic symptoms in clinical settings and the potentially relevant...
American Journal on Addictions
December 2016
David S. Mathai, Christopher D. Verrico, Daryl Shorter et al.
Certain medical consequences seem unique to synthetic cannabinoid (SC) and not cannabis use. We report the case of an adolescent, whose drug expectancies appear to minimize the severity of SC-related adverse events. An 18-year-old male presented with altered mental status and seizure, complicated by respiratory failure. He was stabilized and on discharge, despite counseling on the harms of SC...
American Journal of Psychiatry
April 2014
Christopher D. Verrico, Hong Gu, Melanie L Peterson et al.
Epidemiological findings suggest that, relative to adults, adolescents are more vulnerable to the adverse persistent effects of cannabis on working memory. However, the potential confounds inherent in human studies preclude direct determination of a cause-and-effect relationship between adolescent cannabis use and heightened susceptibility to persistent working memory impairments. Consequently,...
Neuropsychopharmacology
May 2012
Christopher D. Verrico, Shijing Liu, Elizabeth J Bitler et al.
Among adolescents, the perception that cannabis can cause harm has decreased and use has increased. However, in rodents, cannabinoid administration during adolescence induces working memory (WM) deficits that are more severe than if the same exposure occurs during adulthood. As both object and spatial WM mature in a protracted manner, although apparently along different trajectories, adolescent...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
January 21, 2008
Christopher D. Verrico, Laurie J. Lynch, Michele A. Fahey et al.
31 citations
Human MDMA (R,S-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) users display selective cognitive deficits after acute MDMA exposure, frequently attributed to serotonin deficits. We postulated that MDMA will compromize executive function in primates and that an inhibitor of the serotonin transporter (SERT) and the norepinephrine transporter (NET) but not the dopamine (DAT) transporter, will prevent...
Neuropsychopharmacology
March 2004
Christopher D. Verrico, J David Jentsch, Robert H Roth et al.
The residual neuropsychological effects of marijuana abuse in man indicate a dysfunction of the attentional/executive systems. Moreover, experimental investigations suggest that repeated, intermittent (subchronic) Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient of marijuana, alters neurotransmission in the frontal cortex of rats and humans, a key neural site mediating...
Synapse
July 2003
Christopher D. Verrico, J David Jentsch, Robert H Roth
Long-term abuse of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive constituent of marijuana, produces behavioral and metabolic signs of frontal cortical dysfunction in humans; these effects persist even after short-term abstinence. Based on a preliminary finding that repeated administration of THC to rats reduces basal frontal cortical dopamine turnover (Jentsch et al. [1998]...
April 10, 1998
J. Jentsch, Christopher D. Verrico, D. Le et al.
Long-term abuse of marijuana by humans can induce profound behavioral deficits characterized by cognitive and memory impairments. In particular, deficits on tasks dependent on frontal lobe function have been reported in cannabis abusers. In the current study, we examined whether long-term exposure to delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana, altered the neurochemistry of...