A Gainesville native and UF alumnus wrote a novel based on his experiences growing up in Gainesville and his life as a drug smuggler.
The book is about an aging man who goes to Costa Rica on vacation and gets caught up in a drug smuggling ring, said Phillip Haveard, the book’s author.
A lot of the influences come from Gainesville in the ’60s, he said.
During his time studying philosophy at UF, Haveard, 68, said he sold marijuana to pay for school, which brought him into the dangerous world of drug smuggling.
“It was very loud and open,” he said. “The hippie revolution was going on. Drugs were everywhere, and everyone was taking them.”
During his career, Haveard was arrested for smuggling 23 metric tons of marijuana in North Carolina — although, in his book, he changed the location to South Carolina, he said.
After spending a year-and-a-half in federal prison, he said he walked away from drugs entirely.
“I was going down a bad path,” Haveard said.
Haveard said so many aspects of the book are pulled from his personal life, it’s almost an autobiography.
In total, about 80 percent of the novel is autobiographical, including the primary locations of the story, he said.
Haveard said he wrote the book while on vacation in Costa Rica, finishing the novel in more than two months during evenings on the beach.
Haveard said he doesn’t want the book to be viewed as a direct retelling of his life, however.
“I want people to keep an open mind; things aren’t always what they seem,” he said.
The book will be released for purchase on June 18.
