DALLAS— A former narcotics officer who switched sides in the war on drugs—selling DVDs that teach people how to buy, sell, grow and transport marijuana without getting caught—has a new career aspiration: U.S. congressman.

Barry Cooper, 38, is running for Congress as a Libertarian candidate in the 31st Congressional District in Central Texas. He filed last year.

He advocates the legalization of drugs, saying if the laws changed then addicts would receive better treatment and drug-related crimes would decrease.

Cooper said laws prohibiting the growing, selling and consumption of drugs, marijuana in particular, are misguided.

“Americans are not going to stop growing it, they’re not going to stop buying it, they’re not going to stop smoking it, even if you continue to put them in jail,” Cooper said.

Cooper is running against Republican incumbent John Carter and Democrat Brian P. Ruiz, a consultant. None of the three men has an opponent in the primary on Tuesday, according to the state secretary of state Web site.Cooper, a police officer in several Texas towns, became a successful narcotics officer after joining the Permian Basin Drug Task Force, a regional group in West Texas created by the governor with money from a federal grant.