A member of the Kansas House of Representatives said over the weekend that the character and genetics of black people make them more susceptible to marijuana use.



Rep. Steve Alford, Republican of Ulysses, Kansas, later apologized after criticism, according to The Topeka Capital-Journal in Kansas. Alford has served in the Kansas House since 2011.



Alford made the racially charged comments during a town hall meeting on Saturday while arguing against marijuana legalization.



Alford said black people were "users" and responded worst to marijuana because of their "character makeup" and genetics. The Garden City Telegram in Kansas was the first to report on Alford's comments.





Alford also attributed the U.S. decision to ban marijuana in the 1930s to drug abuse by black Americans, the Telegram said.



"I was wrong, I regret my comments and I sincerely apologize to anyone whom I have hurt," Alford later said in a statement, according to the Capital-Journal.



Other Kansas representatives criticized Alford after his comments became public.



"I think that is outrageous," Democratic state Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau said, according to the Capital-Journal. "For a sitting state representative to say that, I just can't believe it. You can't put everybody in one category. He should be more of a statesman and get facts."



Darrell Pope, president of the NAACP chapter in Hutchinson, Kansas called Alford an "idiot," according to CBS News.



Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman said today that he and Alford mutually agreed that Alford would give up his chairmanships of the House Committee on Children and Seniors and the Legislature's Child Welfare System Task Force.

"His remarks were unfortunate. We disagreed with them," Ryckman said, according to the Capital-Journal. "We understood the importance of the committee he was chairing. We didn't want it to be subject to scrutiny based on remarks of the chair or have any of the product from that committee looked at in a different lens."

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