Waimate district councillor Sandy Mulqueen (left) gathers signatures from Di Gould, Stacey Dunn, Neville Yates and Jakh Heremia on a petition on Saturday at the town's Victoria Park oval. Photo by David Bruce.

Waimate district councillor Sandy Mulqueen's Saturday - the day she was to launch her "We Desire Change" campaign to decriminalise cannabis - did not start well.

Just after midnight, she had completed about a 5m longbanner and tied it to veranda posts on the sports pavilion at Victoria Park, where she planned to launch her campaign.

When she checked about 10am that same morning, the banner had gone.

"It was tied too securely and there was no way it could have blown away," Cr Mulqueen said.

She had a suspicion, from comments on her campaign Facebook page, who may have taken it down and she reported it stolen to police.

Then, not long before she arrived at the park oval for the launch at 1pm, a man pulled up in a car and removed the sign she had put on a post at the corner of Tennant and Queen Sts.

This time, supporters spotted him and photographed him and his car, which had a distinctive personalised plate.

That, and opposition from some people in the town, did not deter her from the campaign launch.

She set up her table and petition, which read: "We the undersigned support the adoption into the Waimate District Council long term plan of the project, contained in Sandy Mulqueen's submission, to convince the Government to decriminalise and regulate cannabis in New Zealand, in alignment with the desire of the majority of the community."

Cr Mulqueen planned to spend two to three hours at the park, then collect more signatures yesterday and today to present to the council when she makes a verbal submission at its meeting tomorrow.

First to sign the petition was Jakh Heremia, the founder of GreenCross, a group which provides support for the medicinal use of cannabis, who came from Christchurch with supporters Neville Yates and Di Gould.

Cr Mulqueen's submission to the council, and an admission she drove buses in Auckland after smoking cannabis, has drawn national attention.

Her submission proposes the council, in its long-term 2012-22 plan, back a project to legalise cannabis.

She claimed the move would result in health benefits for the community and boost council funds.

The We Desire Change project would distribute information leaflets throughout the district seeking signed support and then, with the aid of the council, lobby for a law change.

Her submission said if cannabis was legalised and grown under a licence fee, it could provide an alternative source of income for the council and help provide the district's young people with the sense of responsibility they needed to "straighten up and fly right".

david.bruce@odt.co.nz