"We knew something would happen but we were all surprised with the suddenness of the decision. The timing was perfect but I guess we were helped it was an election year," she laughed.
Laughing is what comes naturally to Mrs King.
It's what got her through numerous death threats after she stood outside an R18 shop that sold legal highs in Tokoroa holding a placard reading "K2 is full of poo, stay true and get a clue" just over a year ago.
The term "legal high" wasn't even in her vocabulary before she started campaigning.
"I am bi-polar, I avoided people and spent much of my life at home, I was a recluse."
Two weeks beforehand she had a feeling she had to go into the town and "preach against something".
"What it was, I didn't know," she said.
Armed with a cause she didn't know what, she grabbed some plain cardboard from a shop and headed back to her house.
She told her husband, Simon, what she planned to do.
"He replied 'put it all away darling, you are being manic again'. He's very patient and enduring, my husband."
During the next fortnight her quest was answered.
"I heard of a family who were breaking up because of legal highs, the youngsters were hooked and the adults didn't know what was happening."
She put a comment on the 'Genuine Tokoroa' Facebook page and received a "huge response".
"That's when I said to myself 'I'll go out and protest', I was excited, I never had any second thoughts."
For the next 12 months she gathered national and worldwide support, culminating in mass marches through 23 centres.
For every 100 people who supported her, she would get one who would threaten her, sometimes with her life, she said.
"I didn't care, I just put everything up on Facebook.
"I just thought 'okay, let them do it'. All I wanted to do was raise awareness and alert the kids to this horrible drug."
Through it all she remained "quietly confident something good would happen".
"We've been the government guinea pigs really but it has been worth it. Just knowing that I have helped some people feels like one of those happy pills they give you in hospital. It's taken the edge off my depression. I feel I'm blessed with an amazing miracle."
And what about her detractors?
"They work for us now," she screamed with laughter.
Mrs King has also been nominated for a Pride of New Zealand Award, being held in association with the Rotorua Daily Post, The New Zealand Herald, The Hits radio station and TSB Bank.