Support for marijuana legalization just hit an all time high

REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Marijuana's in the spotlight.

Support for marijuana legalization has never been higher.

A whopping 61% of Americans think marijuana should be legal, according to a CBS poll released Thursday.

That marks a five-percent increase over last year and the highest percentage ever recorded since CBS began asking the question. Back in 1979, 69% of Americans opposed marijuana legalization.

The US's growing approval of marijuana could reflect a jump in the amount of Americans who say they've actually tried smoking, vaporizing, or eating marijuana.

In 1997, 34% of Americans reported trying it. Twenty years later, in 2017, 50% of Americans said they've tried it. CBS notes that support for marijuana legalization is particularly strong among the under-35 crowd.

Further, 71% of Americans oppose a federal crackdown on state-legal marijuana, with a relatively even split between Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

And, despite what Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a staunch opponent of marijuana, says - only 23% of Americans think legalizing marijuana would increase violent crime.

Recreational marijuana is legal in eight states, though it's still illegal at the federal level.

See the poll breakdown from CBS here.