Paralympic blade runner Liam Malone has revealed he smoked weed with Olympians.

The 25-year-old from Nelson quit competing last year, having won 200m and 400m gold medals at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

He has made his stand-up debut for a touring Glasgow company with an act which included a story about fans with amputee fetishes and

He spoke to Jack Tame on NewstalkZB after performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland this week.

Tame asked about a recent tweet by Malone which read: "What's most ironic of the weed makes you lazy argument is the number of Olympic/professional athletes I've smoked weed with. Less detrimental to performance than alcohol for sure."

He said on today's show: "I won't name names because obviously, I'm not going to throw anyone else under the bus. But I grew up I Nelson. I smoked weed for the first time when I was 14/15.

"I think it's really unfortunate and there is a degree of hypocrisy that athletes can drink as much as they want ... They can go out on these huge benders, make a fool of themselves, make a fool of their country but if they want to consume something like cannabis, what does an athlete have to do to be able to be given the individual liberty to choose what they put in their body?

"And there is plenty of New Zealand athletes and plenty of American athletes in particular who I trained with over in the US when I would go over there and train… I mean it's different there because it's legal."

He said there had been heavy drinking after the Festival Fringe.

"It's the opposite of being an athlete. My body basically feels like it's going to shut down. I'm so glad I got to talk to you because it means I got to escape all the other comics who are almost like rockstars.

"Boy do they drink. Most nights I've been getting home to 3am-5am. I'm pretty much on New Zealand time zone still… and eating horrendous food."

Voters will have their say at next year's election over a potential legal cannabis market; which would allow for special bars for consumption, special outlets and sales and strict rules for home-grown cannabis.

In May, the Government unveiled a number of decisions about the cannabis referendum in 2020 but the final draft law is yet to be decided.

Legal use would be limited to people aged over 20, and advertising cannabis products would be banned and taxed.

The referendum at the 2020 election will ask about support for a bill that would include:
• Allowing products to be bought only on a licensed premises from a licensed and registered retailer, and banning online or remote sales.
• Banning the use of cannabis publicly, allowing it only in a special licensed premises or on private property,
• Controlling the potency of cannabis in available products,
• Introducing a legal purchase age of 20, and
• Banning advertising of cannabis products, and requiring products to carry health messages.