Posted February 23, 2017 23:58:50

Photo: Briton David Fox said the hashish helped him to sleep. (AP: Firdia Lisnawati)

Judges in Bali have suggested sending a British former war correspondent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment for cannabis addiction.

The retired Reuters war correspondent, David Fox, has been in custody for four months, since he was arrested at a bar in Bali's Sanur area with a small amount of hashish.

Fox, who lives in Indonesia, said he used the drug to help him deal with post-traumatic stress (PTSD) that accumulated during two decades of covering conflict.

"Everywhere from Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq. Everywhere in the last 20 years where there's been a war, I've covered it," he told the court.

He said he was addicted to the drug, and the hashish helped him to sleep.

He told the court that his drug addiction contributed to the breakdown of his marriage to author Elizabeth Pisani.

"The PTSD and the use of narcotics was all part of the divorce, yes, unfortunately," he said.

The judges asked Fox whether he would agree to being treated for addiction in an Indonesian psychiatric hospital.

"I leave it to the wisdom of the court to decide what is best for me — I think a more informal rehabilitation process will probably work best for me," he said.

Australian man also facing trial in Bali

Fox was arrested last October after an Australian man, Giuseppe Serafino, was caught with drugs and told police that the Briton had supplied him.

Photo: Giuseppe Serafino (right) and David Matthew Fox (left) after being arrested (Supplied)

Serafino is also facing trial in Bali.

Fox said the hashish was for his personal use and he did not deal drugs. He said he bought the drugs from another bule — or foreigner — in the same bar in Sanur.

The retired journalist said he had not used drugs for four months while in jail and would not do so again.

"I've never been more determined about anything in my entire life," he said.

He faces a maximum 12 years in jail, although most minor drug offenders in Indonesia are punished with prison terms of one or two years.

Photo: Australian national Giuseppe Serafino arrives at Denpasar's district court for his trial in Bali. (AP: Firdia Lisnawati)

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, crime, drug-offences, drugs-and-substance-abuse, community-and-society, mental-health, indonesia, bali, asia