Half of all Americans support the legalization of marijuana as a recreational drug—a record high that could significantly alter both federal and state-level policies surrounding one of the most protracted and contested issues in the nation, the Huffington Post reported Tuesday, citing a new Gallup poll.

The poll figures show a 4 percentage point increase over 2010—when 46 percent Americans responded in favor of legalizing pot—and a 10 point jump over 2009, when 40 percent of Americans affirmed their support for legalization.

The Gallup poll, a summary of which can be viewed by clicking here, was based on telephone interviews conducted Oct. 6-9—amid a U.S. Department of Justice crackdown in California on medial marijuana collectives and the landlords on whose properties they are based.