"When it comes to the subject of marijuana, more and more people are turning away from the federal government and away from the mainstream media; instead, they are turning to groups like NORML and the NORML Daily Audio Stash as their most trusted source of information for all things cannabis," Daily Audio Stash host Russ Belville said.

Belville attributed the show's recent spike in popularity to marijuana law reformers' unprecedented interest in the 2008 Presidential election. "Voters in November approved 10 out of 11 state and local ballot initiatives to liberalize marijuana policy," he said. "In both Massachusetts and Michigan, marijuana reform measures gained more votes than President Elect Obama. It's clear that a record numbers of cannabis consumers participated in the 2008 election, and that they played a significant role in its outcome. In the days and weeks leading up to Election Day, many thousands of these voters turned to the Daily Audio Stash in record numbers as well."

Episodes of the Daily Audio Stash averaged over 7,000 downloads per day in October, with one broadcast (October 10, 2008) receiving nearly 35,000 downloads. More people are also logging on to the NORML Daily Audio Stash blog. Belville says that the blog received over 12,000 hits for its post-Election Day coverage, and now averages approximately 35,000 hits per month.

Available for download Monday through Friday at: http://www.norml.org, the Daily Audio Stash provides a forum for politicians, celebrities, physicians, scientists, and citizen activists to participate in uninhibited conversations about marijuana policy and legal reform.

Since its initial broadcast on Monday, June 5, 2006, NORML's Daily Audio Stash has consistently ranked among the top 15 'most subscribed' podcasts in the 'government and organizations' category of Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store - averaging more than one million listeners per year. Recent guests on the Stash include: Congressmen Ron Paul (R-TX) and Barney Frank (D-MA), actor Tommy Chong, Doors co-founder Ray Manzarek, screenwriter Mike Gray, comedian Doug Benson, PBS television travel guru Rick Steves, authors Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb (Dying to Get High), and film director Jed Riffe ("Waiting to Inhale").