John Baeza, a former narcotics detective for the New York Police Department, remembers the moment he decided to transfer from the narcotics unit years ago.
Baeza was buying $16,000 of heroin undercover when the dealer led him into a building, turned around and put a gun to his head.
"(I) was told, 'This is the end of the line for you,'" he said.
Baeza escaped after a brief scuffle, but his perspective on the drug war had changed.
Baeza told a crowd of about 100 people in the Reitz Union Rion Ballroom on Wednesday night that on that day, he decided people should control their own bodies.
"I realized that I was gonna die over something that someone wanted to put in their bodies," Baeza said. "My feeling after that was that if they wanted to drink a can of gasoline, let them do it."
The UF College Libertarians, which invited Baeza to speak, spent less than $500 on his appearance, said Mike Segal, vice president of the group.
Baeza said working as a narcotics officer made him prejudiced because he saw so many minorities arrested. He said the drug war disproportionately affects minorities.
He represents an organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP, made up of law enforcement officers, criminal justice workers and average citizens who do not believe in the prohibition of drugs.
Baeza, who has eight children and describes himself as a family man, said he would discourage the use of any substance that impairs thinking but would want his children to know that people have a right to their bodies.
"I wanted to come here and educate people who might not know what it's like on the street and who might not know that the drug war is an abject failure," Baeza said.
Neal Conner, UF College Libertarians president, agreed with Baeza's stance.
"As long as someone isn't hurting anyone else, they have the right to engage in whatever activity they choose," Conner said.
