Republican Lawmaker Said African Americans Are More Likely To Get Hooked On Marijuana Because Of Their “Character Makeup” And Genetics

Republican Kansas Rep. Steve Alford became the latest U.S. lawmaker to prove how stuck in the Jim Crow era many still are.

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During a “legislative coffee session” on Saturday, Alford disagreed with Finney County Democrats President Zach Worf’s claim that legalizing marijuana would boost the economy in Kansas. To prove his point, Alford tried teaching Worf and the rest of the attendants some “history.”

“What you really need to do is go back in the ’30s, when they outlawed all types of drugs in Kansas [and] across the United States,” he said. “What was the reason why they did that? 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. And so basically what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to do a complete reverse with people not remembering what has happened in the past.”

The Garden City Telegram was the first to report Alford’s comments. The paper also captured the moment on video.

As The Telegram noted, Alford was referencing talking points pushed by Harry Anslinger, who served as the founding commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics for most of the 1930’s.

Anslinger was an extreme anti-marijuana proponent credited with the establishment of the  Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. He propagated wild stories in the media about the effects of marijuana on society, blaming it for murders, sexual promiscuity, and addiction to stronger drugs.

Anslinger frequently used racism to further his agenda, claiming that the drug made white women want to have sex with black men, that it convinced “darkies think they’re as good as white men,” that the “Satanic music” of jazz and swing were the results of marijuana use, and more.

There is zero scientific evidence suggesting that African Americans — or Hispanics, Filipinos, and other minority groups Alsinger targeted — are more likely to get addicted to marijuana than whites.

Alford apologized after the uproar his comments prompted, claiming that he’d been talking about the “damaging effects on the African American community,” but this apology does not account for his comments on the genes and moral character of African Americans.