I wouldn't say it stalls you per se. More of an ethical thing. Tracing and passing it off as your own work? Shitty. Then again, if you're practicing how to draw a squid and you trace one a million times for practice, you might find you can draw a squid from memory a bit easier in the future (Drawing is like going to the gym, it's a shit ton of muscle memory and repetition) There are better ways to go about that than tracing though...

Tracing has it's place though. On a tight as deadline for an editorial job and really don't have the freaking time to work out a pose from scratch using your photo reference? Fuck it. Pop that sum bitch under some tracing paper and get the basics down to save your self some time. Did you draw something and it's really nice but you bitched up some other element of the composition and you need to move or change something? Tracing paper.

I must note though, tracing with the intent to pass off a finished work as something you made is generally going to be obvious, and likely tacky looking. Photos fuck with dimensions, they inherently flatten and distort the subject, so if you painstakingly trace it, your "work" will have the same issues.

If you are painstakingly tracing another artists work (painting, drawing, etc) It will again be obvious because it will be stiff. Most folks who trace to pass off work white knuckle the shit out of it and you can spot it a mile away.