A Kansas state legislator has stepped down from the chairmanship of a Kansas House committee after he said African-Americans were more susceptible to marijuana because of "their character makeup" and "their genetics."

Republican state Rep. Steve Alford made the remarks Saturday to a small gathering in Garden City, Kansas. He was making the case against Kansas legalizing marijuana -- just as its neighbor, Colorado, has done.

As he walked through the history of why marijuana was prohibited, he said: "One of the reasons why, I hate to say it, was that the African-Americans, they were basically users and they basically responded the worst off to those drugs just because of their character makeup, their genetics and that."