Many of the myths surrounding marijuana are quickly being busted with today's technology, social media, and an honesty system in professionals. But a lot of he stigma in how society views marijuana is still ingrained in some people, with a lot still believing it causes brain cells to die or that you become permanently brain damaged. What more with heavy, daily users right? But we're seeing that even those who have reached a dependency level and a tendency for abuse aren't showing the results that Reefer Madness believers might expect. A study in England was conducted on close to 9,000 men in their middle age, on the way marijuana-as well as other illicit drugs-affect the brain function. The research was based on three measures: the memory index, the cognitive function index, and the overall cognitive index. In 1999-2000, the National Child Development Study surveyed participants of 42 years of age, and again at 50 years old (2008-2009). The illegal substances that were included in the study were marijuana, cocaine, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, ecstasy, and amphetamines. According to Alex Dregan of King's College London who conducted the research, the most favored drug of the control group was marijuana, with both past and current users being studied. Among the 8,992 men in the medical study that came out in 2011 American Journal Of Epidemiology, it was found that there was little-to-no evidence suggesting an association with marijuana and negative cognitive functioning. In fact, when past and current pot users were lumped together, they tended to score higher than those who had never used the drug. This could be a foundation for further research to support some of the claims that cannabis actually improves cognitive functioning. However, the researchers were adamant about the negative effects of heavy drug use. They insisted that continual consumption these illicit drugs, including marijuana, will likely harm one's health and impair brain function. This was based on the few subjects who claimed to have been treated for their drug use in rehabs, which suggests a dependency. They also scored lower on the tests, but those participants were too few in total for the researchers to draw any meaningful conclusions, as they said. But even those who developed a habit of smoking pot regularly showed that any impaired brain function of negative effect would improve after only a month of stopping the heavy use. This suggests that marijuana, and possibly other drugs, have only temporary and short term, according to Dregan and his team. Dr. John Halpern of Harvard Medical School states that the results are what you might expect to see from a Western population of occasional drug users. The findings of the study come as to surprise to Halpern, who reminds us that the brain is resilient.