Mark Gillilan started Kyoto Botanicals in 2020 as a THC-free CBD company, years before federal law moved the same way. On this episode of Unscripted Cannabis, host Mr. Gudwudz (Just Jay) asks him why he built it that way from day one, and what the federal hemp rule taking effect November 12, 2026 means for everyone who didn't. Mark got his start in hemp wellness about ten years ago at Charlotte's Web, and today Kyoto Botanicals makes broad-spectrum CBD and functional mushroom products.

The full written recap is at Mark Gillilan: THC-Free by Design, and there's a closer look at the new rule in November 12 and the 0.4 milligram rule.

In this episode

• The afternoon Mark spent mixing full-spectrum extract in his kitchen and realized he was high, and why the 0.3% THC limit hides the number that matters: "It's the milligrams." A 25 milligram full-spectrum gummy can carry a milligram of THC, and a high-dose tincture four to six per serving.
• What broad spectrum and "no-detect" lab results actually mean, plus his honest warning for anyone whose job depends on a drug test.
• Functional mushrooms (lion's mane, reishi, cordyceps, chaga, nothing psilocybin), why Kyoto dual-extracts them with alcohol and water to get past the chitin, and Mark's routine: mushrooms for "quiet focus" by day, CBD for sleep at night.
• The November 12 federal hemp rule and its 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container, the numbers Mark has seen suggesting about 95% of the CBD industry falls outside it, and Tennessee, where Kyoto no longer ships.
• How the industry got here: "It's like water, it's gonna find the weak spots." Delta 8, heavy-loaded products, and what the rule could mean for the farmers who converted tobacco acres to hemp.
• Building a brand from the inside out, and why Kyoto leans on education through its blog, YouTube channel and local markets.

Find Mark and his products at kyotobotanicals.com, and more conversations at Unscripted Cannabis.

Farmer Tom Lauerman started growing cannabis at 13 in San Diego, got arrested at 16 in the Ocean Beach pier parking lot, and has spent every decade since fighting for the plant. On this episode of Unscripted Cannabis, host Mr. Gudwudz (Just Jay) hands him the floor, and Tom walks through his whole history in one sitting: the collective, the raid, the farmers markets, and the two days he spent teaching federal scientists what a cannabis farm actually looks like. He runs Farmer Tom Organics, and his own site is farmertom.com.

The full written recap is at Farmer Tom Lauerman: The Seed That Started It All.

In this episode

• Shelter from the Storm, the Prop 215 collective Tom grew for in San Diego: about 20 patients, $50 a month if you could afford it, and a jar filled once a week on the honor system. "It was a true collective model."
• The 1999 raid that started with his dog nipping at a neighbor's fence, why the collective kept a media list (a lesson from Brownie Mary), and how NORML's lawyers and a courthouse protest got the charges shelved. The case led to San Diego's first medical marijuana task force.
• Moving to Oregon's Applegate Valley, then a five-acre former nursery outside Portland on the Washington side, where he cleaned the soil with pumpkins before growing.
• Washington's medical marijuana farmers markets, the magazine covers that came out of them, and lobbying in Olympia while the state wrote its legalization rules.
• The live extraction demo he organized for TV news that helped change the state's mind about concentrates: "If you don't regulate and tax, people are gonna continue to blow themselves up."
• Hosting CDC and NIOSH scientists on his farm in 2015 for a union-requested health hazard evaluation, including the CyberGlove study that produced the carpal tunnel warning for trimmers. The Lund Report covered the study.
• Teaching cannabis courses at Clark College, training over 300 farmers through his Hemp Farming Academy, and working as an expert witness in a large Kentucky hemp case.
• Why he turned down a deal that would have owned his name and face, and why he answers "exit plan?" questions the way he does.
• His role as a San Diego cannabis social equity applicant and the county think tank that won 600-foot setbacks for outdoor grows.

Connect

• Farmer Tom: farmertom.com and farmertomorganics.com. He's Farmer Tom Lauerman on Instagram, X, Facebook and LinkedIn.
• Your host, Mr. Gudwudz (Just Jay): mrgudwudz.com and gudwudz.com. Meet him on his own episode.

Tom has agreed to come back for a part two with listener questions.

Most cannabis brands believe the product sells itself. Dan Serard, Chief Revenue Officer of Cannabis Creative Group, has watched hundreds of them find out it doesn't. On this episode of Unscripted Cannabis, host Mr. Gudwudz (Just Jay) puts his own brand on the table and Dan turns the conversation into a live consulting session.

Dan has been with the agency since it started in 2018 under the name Champ Digital. It has since worked with more than 600 clients in about 36 states, all with in-house, US-based staff. Before cannabis he ran fitness clubs in downtown Boston and Santa Monica, where he set out to be "the mayor" who knew every member and business owner. That education-first, no-hard-sell habit is what he brought to cannabis. His profile is on the Cannabis Creative Group team page.

The full written recap, with the 90-day plan laid out step by step, is at Dan Serard: How to Market Cannabis When the Platforms Are Against You.

In this episode

• Why Meta and Google flag cannabis and ancillary brands: no promotion of sales, no "$30, buy one get one" offers, and no smoke or smoking imagery. Dan's team still runs compliant digital advertising by leaning on lifestyle and education, and he explains why AI-written ad copy misses those nuances.
• A live teardown of Gudwudz, the $20 handcrafted walnut smoking accessory: show it in people's hands, use real-world use cases and testimonials, and put the value proposition at the very top of the site, because you have less than a second to catch a scroller.
• "If you build it they will come" as the deadliest belief in the industry. Start local or regional, prove the concept, then expand, the way one client grew from 60-plus stores in Nashville to 20 more in South Carolina.
• Why cannabis spreads by word of mouth: the porch at the house party, where strangers become best friends.
• The two channels nobody can shut off. First, organic SEO, plus a Google Business Profile. Second, email marketing, which means building the list at events and trade shows.
• Acquisition versus retention: SEO, ads and awareness bring people in, and email, SMS and loyalty platforms like Alpine IQ keep them buying.
• Premium versus merely expensive. Nail the brand identity first (voice, tone, blacks, golds and mattes), stay consistent for three to five years, then refresh based on what customers say.
• What an engagement costs: everything is custom scoped, brand packages typically start around $5,000 and digital retainers around $1,500.

Dan's 90-day plan for any small brand: run a rebrand or positioning exercise so the brand reads as premium, fix the website's call to action and value proposition, and get the product into people's hands at events with a camera rolling.

More on this theme from Unscripted Cannabis: You Have To Educate People Why...