Just J sits down with Mark Gillilan, founder and CEO of Kyoto Botanicals — a family-owned hemp wellness company started in 2020. Mark got his start in the space about a decade ago at Charlotte’s Web, where he met the original hemp families and became, in his words, instantly passionate about the plant. Kyoto Botanicals makes THC-free CBD and, more recently, dual-extracted functional mushroom products, with a deliberate focus on wellness rather than getting high.
The conversation covers why Mark built a THC-free brand from the start, the crucial difference between THC percentage and milligrams, what “broad spectrum” and “no-detect” actually mean (plus an honest drug-testing warning), why functional mushrooms pair naturally with hemp, and the federal hemp law taking effect November 12, 2026 — a total-THC standard that could pull an estimated 95% of the CBD industry off the shelves.
From Charlotte’s Web to Kyoto Botanicals
Cannabis wasn’t a big part of Mark’s life until he started at Charlotte’s Web and met people whose lives were genuinely changed by the plant. That turned into a mission. He launched Kyoto Botanicals in 2020 as a THC-free CBD company — a deliberate choice from day one. The name was intentional too: not “Kyoto CBD” or “Kyoto Hemp,” because he always planned to expand into other botanical wellness products. Functional mushrooms, launched a few months before this conversation, were the first step of that expansion.
Percentage vs. Milligrams — Why “THC-Free” Matters
Mark’s defining insight came from his own kitchen. THC and his body don’t get along — it makes him paranoid, raises his heart rate, and wrecks his sleep. While developing flavored full-spectrum products, he realized he was getting high from formulating them. The lesson: the 0.3% THC threshold in the 2018 Farm Bill is a percentage, but what your body feels is milligrams. A 25mg full-spectrum gummy can carry a milligram of THC; a high-dose 2,000mg tincture can hold four, five, or six milligrams per serving — plenty for a THC-sensitive person to feel. The percentage doesn’t matter; the milligrams do.
Broad Spectrum and “No-Detect”
Mark realized there was a whole forgotten side of the market — older generations, professionals, athletes, the sober-curious — who want nothing to do with THC. So Kyoto uses broad-spectrum extract: the whole-plant hemp extract with all the terpenes, antioxidants, and beneficial phytocompounds, but with the THC pulled out. Every product is lab-tested across a battery of tests, including THC, and has to come back “no-detect” — below the detection threshold of highly sensitive instruments. Mark is candid, though: if drug testing is part of your livelihood, he recommends avoiding any cannabis product whatsoever, because micro-traces can build up in fat cells over time. It’s not worth your job.
Functional Mushrooms, Done Right
The mushroom line is a dual-extracted powder — lion’s mane, cordyceps, reishi, and chaga (no psilocybin). Mark explains that the beneficial polysaccharides and beta-glucans are locked inside chitin, the fungal cell wall, which the body can’t digest well. So Kyoto does both an alcohol and a water extraction upstream in manufacturing to break that wall down and make the compounds bioavailable, rather than relying on hot water and percolation like most “mushroom coffee.” The fine powder is blended with raw cacao. Mark’s own routine: mushrooms in the morning for “quiet focus,” CBD at night for sleep.
The November 12 Hemp Reckoning
A law signed in late 2025 redefines hemp federally, taking effect November 12, 2026, moving to a total-THC standard of 0.4mg per finished container. Mark expects the impact to be massive — numbers he’s seen suggest roughly 95% of the current CBD industry would fall outside the law. States are already drafting similar language; Tennessee is the most alarming example, now regulating CBD like alcohol and barring out-of-state shipments. Mark is conflicted: it’s a blunt instrument that hurts ethically-made full-spectrum products and the people who rely on them, but something had to be done about the Delta-8 and THC explosion that turned hemp into a way to “legally” get everyone high. As he puts it, regulation is like water — people find the weak spots. The hardware side sits outside that standard.A total THC limit applies to what’s in the container, not the device it screws onto, so cart batteries and empty 510 tanks stay unaffected either way.
What Happens to the Honest Brands
Most major CBD brands leaned heavily into THC over the last couple of years, building out manufacturing lines that may now sit idle. Many are private-equity-owned with investors who want fast returns — so how patient will the markets be while they rebuild? Mark doesn’t know where all that stranded capital goes. His real concern is the end user who’s seen the power of the plant, and the farmers — including former tobacco growers in places like Kentucky who converted their crops to hemp. He hopes there’s still enough demand and production capacity to keep them whole.
Build From the Inside Out
The throughline Just J keeps returning to: Mark built from the inside out. Instead of chasing what the market would reward, he solved a problem he personally had — and in doing so opened access for a much larger group of people who wanted relaxation and wellness without the high. Education is central to how Kyoto operates: Mark runs a YouTube channel, writes the company blog, and works local markets in Denver face-to-face to answer real questions and address real reservations. Find them at KyotoBotanicals.com. And as Just J signs off — check out his book, The Point of Life, on Amazon, and remember to build from the inside out.