"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." An ageless little playground ditty. We know it isn't true, for names do hurt.

Those of us who utilize cannabis medicinally can find ourselves in the unique position of enduring bigotry, bullying, and consequent discrimination because of that use. Recall that a positive drug test for cannabis can result in the loss of a job, child custody, housing, and more. Understanding what puts us in this position might help us emerge from the injustice. Perhaps if we studied the language of the bigot, we might find that a key that unlocks the door and frees us.

We have established that bigotry is a means of social control and that bullies have been placed in charge, intent on advancing their restrictive agenda. The language of the bully - propaganda - enforces bigoted viewpoints and sells them to others.

Propaganda is defined as "the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person." (1) Bigotry relies on injurious ideas to advance itself, and the bully adeptly wields it as a tool.

A 2007 study by Indiana University called "Villains, Victims, and the Virtuous in Bill O'Reilly's 'No-Spin Zone': Revisiting world war propaganda techniques," (2) looks at the language of propaganda by dissecting the communications style of Bill O'Reilly. The study determined that O'Reilly, the prototype media bully, employed a propaganda device almost 13 times per minute during his O'Reilly Factor FoxNews show.

As defined by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis (3), propaganda devices include:

- Name Calling. Assigns to a person or idea a bad label to make the audience reject them without examining the evidence. (Ever been referred to as a 'stoner'? O'Reilly uses name calling 8.88 times per minute or once every seven seconds.)(2)(4)

- Glittering Generalities. The antithesis of Name Calling, the use of 'virtue words' motivates an audience to accept an idea or person without examining the evidence. (For example, 'drug free'.)

- Euphemisms. Attempts to pacify an audience in order to make an unpleasant reality more palatable. (Sobriety checkpoints don't look for drug free drivers, and the term belies the magnitude of the police presence behind it.)

- Transfer. Using prestige or authority of one idea or person and transferring it to another to make it acceptable or add stature to it. It can also work as a negative device. (During the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan took a drug test. The results were never published, but it gave the impression that if he can do it, we all should.)(5)

- Testimonial. Utilizes a respected (or disrespected) person endorsing or rejecting an idea or person. (The idea behind the Office of National Drug Control Policy's "What's Your Anti-Drug?" media campaign.)(6)

- Plain Folks. Occurs when the individual in question presents him/herself, another person, an institution, or idea as one of the people. Of common folk, not the elites. (Your lowly carpet cleaner will be 'drug free' according to Stanley Steamer.)(7)

- Bandwagon. Suggests that because everybody approves or disapproves of an idea or person, the audience should hold the same opinion. (Why Drug-Test Students? "[drug testing as a] deterrence has been demonstrated many times over in the American workplace." Isn't that right?)(8)

- Fear. Warns that disaster will result if a particular course of action is not followed. (Medical marijuana is a sinister plot by George Soros to legalize ALL drugs.)(4)

Card Stacking. Constitutes the selective use of facts, half-truths, and or lies to convince the audience to accept or reject an idea or person. (Medicinal cannabis has been a prototype victim of selective facts, half-truths, and outright lies.)

If you think that sticks and stones were left on the playground and are thus irrelevant to medicinal cannabis, think again. It is propaganda that reinforces the bigotry that the bully uses against us.

One Website that analyzes propagandist language with respect to cannabis is Drug Policy Central's 'bot'. News articles from around the world are briefly captured, evaluate, and rated according to a number of drug war propaganda measures including "hated groups," "survival of society," "all use is abuse," and more. Examining 'bot' reveals that drug related bigoted language is alive and well worldwide.

Remembering that the object is to break free of the social controls imposed by bigotry, the common thread among the O'Reilly study, the IPA devices, and 'bot' is the light that they shine on the bully's propaganda toolbox. If we parse O'Reilly's words to reveal their propagandist underpinning, we begin to diffuse his negative impact. Giving names and descriptions to propaganda devices helps identify when they are being used against us. Employing 'bot' to uncover propaganda's media prevalence allows us to measure the breadth and depth of the problem and pinpoint where change can occur.

Like sticks and stones, cannabis propaganda wielded by drug war bullies hurts real people. We fight it best by revealing it, understanding it, and developing tactics to counter it.

(1) Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/propaganda

(2) "Villains, Victims, and the Virtuous in Bill O'Reilly's 'No-Spin Zone': Revisiting world war propaganda techniques," by Mike Conway, Maria Elizabeth Grabe, and Kevin Grieves. http://journalism.indiana.edu/papers/oreillyjourstud07.pdf

(3) The Institute for Propaganda Analysis, http://www.propagandacritic.com/

(4) "High on Compassion," by Bill O'Reilly, http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n000/a051.html

(5) "Ronald Reagan on Drugs," By Stephen Young. Feature Article for the DrugSense Weekly, June 11, 2004. http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2004/ds04.n353.html

(6) "Boycott Stanley Steamer," Ohio Patient Network. http://www.ohiopatient.net/v2/content/view/62/2/

(7) "Celebrities Declare 'Anti-Drugs,'" Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) http://www.mediacampaign.org/newsletter/winter03/update8.html

(8) "Drug Testing: An Overview," ONDCP, http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/drug_testing/drug_testing.h tml

(9) The Drug Policy Central 'bot' briefly captures worldwide drug policy articles and evaluates them according to their drug war propaganda content. http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/index.cgi?latest=50