A Kansas state legislator who suggested at a public forum that blacks are predisposed to abusing drugs has resigned from two committee leadership jobs.

Republican state Rep. Steve Alford of the western Kansas town of Ulysses stepped down Tuesday as chairman of the House Children and Seniors Committee and vice chairman of a legislative task force on child welfare.

Alford resigned from those positions a day after apologizing for remarks he made Saturday at a public meeting in Garden City.

During the meeting, Alford discussed his opposition to legalizing any use of marijuana and referenced a time in the 1930s when it was outlawed.

He said marijuana and other drugs were prohibited partly because blacks responded "the worst" to them "because of their character makeup — their genetics and that."