The Merry Hempsters is a manufacturer of certified organic

Organic certification

Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products. In general, any business directly involved in food production can be certified, including seed suppliers, farmers, [food] processors, retailers and restaurants.Requirements vary...

 and vegan hemp seed oil

Hemp oil

Hempseed oil is pressed from the seed of the hemp plant irrespective of the strain of cannabis. Cold pressed, unrefined hemp oil is dark to clear light green in color, with a pleasant nutty flavor. The darker the color, the grassier the flavour....

-based products located in Eugene, Oregon

Eugene, Oregon

Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...

, United States.

History

The Merry Hempsters started in Eugene, Oregon in 1994, and became an Oregon corporation in 1997. It was one of the first hemp companies in the United States. The name was created as a play on words on The Merry Pranksters

Merry Pranksters

The Merry Pranksters were a group of people who formed around American author Ken Kesey in 1964 and sometimes lived communally at his homes in California and Oregon...

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The Merry Hempsters produce herbal medicinal products such as lip balm

Lip balm

Lip balm or lip salve is a wax-like substance applied topically to the lips of the mouth to relieve chapped or dry lips, angular cheilitis, stomatitis, or cold sores. Lip balm often contains beeswax or carnauba wax, camphor, cetyl alcohol, lanolin, paraffin, and petrolatum, among other ingredients...

 and salves using hemp seed oil from Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

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Hemp seed oil comes from the Cannabis sativa

Cannabis sativa

Cannabis sativa is an annual herbaceous plant in the Cannabaceae family. Humans have cultivated this herb throughout recorded history as a source of industrial fibre, seed oil, food, recreation, spiritual enlightenment and medicine...

plant. Cannabis sativa has not been grown legally in the United States since the passage of the Controlled Substances Act

Controlled Substances Act

The Controlled Substances Act was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The CSA is the federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain...

. All hemp products are currently produced from plants grown outside the United States.

On May 13, 2009, Gerry Shapiro, president of The Merry Hempsters, and Christina Volgyesi of Living Harvest testified in favor of Oregon Senate Bill 676. The bill allows for the cultivation of low THC

THC

THC commonly refers to tetrahydrocannabinol, the main active chemical compound in Cannabis.THC may also refer to:* Tan Holdings Corporation...

 varieties of hemp to be grown in Oregon. The bill won support in both the Oregon House

Oregon House of Representatives

The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 57,000. The House meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem....

 and Senate

Oregon State Senate

The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the state-wide legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the State Senate, representing 30 districts across the state,...

, and went on to be signed into law on August 4, 2009, by Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski

Ted Kulongoski

Theodore R. "Ted" Kulongoski is an American politician, who served as the 36th Governor of Oregon. A Democrat, he has served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, as the state Insurance Commissioner, the Attorney General, and an Associate Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court.-Early...

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