SOUTH Australia’s Premier Steve Marshall was supposed to be on Facebook Monday night, answering voters questions - only thing is, it didn’t go to plan.

The premier, who took office earlier this year when the Liberals ended Labour’s 16 years in power, was geared up to do a Facebook Live video when “technical difficulties” cut the video short and forced him to issue written answers instead.

Many who posted on his page were infuriated by his Government’s new cannabis laws. Proposed new laws will see recreational users of the drug fined four times as much as they are now, or with up to two years in jail.

At present, the law in SA made cannabis smoking punishments the same as for “jaywalking” the state’s Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said, so they needed to be tougher.

That hasn’t gone down well with some, who gave Mr Marshall a roasting online.

“Allowing people a safer substitute to alcohol to relax after a hard day of work will save lives and solve numerous social issues created by the abuse of alcohol,” one man wrote.

One woman urged him to pursue users of hard drugs, like methamphetamine, and branded the laws “draconian”.

“You’re going after soft targets to show you’re ‘succeeding on the war on drugs.’

“I’d prefer to hear what you’re doing about the massive ice problem in South Australia - that’s where you should be concentrating your WOD [War On Drugs]. Now that would be something you’d get a lot of support for. Unlike these draconian MJ laws you are wanting to introduce.”

One man claimed the war on drugs in the US had caused unnecessary prison sentences and did nothing to stop problems with drug abuse.

“Cannabis is less dangerous that alcohol, which is legal in South Australia and causes hundreds of deaths every year. Alcohol-related violence is a major factor in domestic violence, and yet rather than tackle this, the Liberal Party wants to go back to the 1980s with their policies...”

Mr Marshall’s technical problems were also mocked by those who had been hoping to question him live.

“Technical issues? Would be more to do with ridiculous bills being introduced by your government wouldn’t it? Too scared to talk the truth about cannabis and would prefer to hide behind propaganda and lies,” asked one man.

“How convenient!.. Scared to talk facts with voters about cannabis,” said another, while others said they were only there to hear him speak about cannabis law reform.

Mr Marshall’s “team” did give one lengthy response to a person who asked for clarification of the policy, but he failed to respond to many others who had specific questions.

It didn’t go unnoticed.

“You could always just respond to people under their comments like the Opposition do...He got his ‘team’ to answer about four questions.”

Another summed up the feeling of many when he said political figures risked their message being lost, or backfiring, when instances like Monday night occurred.

“This is one of the problems with people who lack political acumen, in Facebook videos... they cannot survive unless they delete the dissenting voices... lackers of acumen.”

Mr Marshall will be hoping for a better reception next time, or at least a better internet connection.