Confession ... Pauline Hanson said she smoked pot in her youth. Picture: The Verdict/Channel 9

The former One Nation leader and federal indepedent MP has admitted to puffing on the illegal drug “three times” while debating the push to legalise recreational marijuana on Channel Nine’s new current affairs show, The Verdict.

“I will admit when I was younger that I tried marijuana three times – I was really spaced out of my head,” Ms Hanson revealed during the panel discussion airing tonight.

“If you put me in a car and I had to drive, well...”

Ms Hanson said she was against full prohibition of cannabis but condemned the use of illicit drugs purely for recreational purposes.

She suggested teens should be able to find enjoyment in simple, sober ways like hitting up the beach and the movies like she used to — when not blazing.

“We were high on life,” she told the panel.

The flame-haired ex-fish and chip shop owner has had a high profile in Australian politics since the late 1990s due to her extreme right wing and anti-immigration stance.During her famous maiden speech in 1996, she sensationally remarked that Australia was “in danger of being swamped by Asians”.

The Verdict airs tonight on Channel Nine at 8.30pm