2026-07-07
A cannabis-native operator stopped at a North Georgia gas station, saw 1000mg THC gummies on the shelf, and knew the unregulated hemp market had a real problem. Thomas Winstanley spent six years scaling Theory Wellness from a single Bridgewater store to a seven-state operator. Then he went quiet for nine months to build a national hemp THC marketplace inside the company that owns Edible Arrangements. With a federal ban looming, he's doing the opposite of most operators: doubling down.Thomas is EVP and GM of edibles.com. In this conversation he breaks down how a 25-year-old brand with real infrastructure entered hemp, why the name "edibles" is both the biggest asset and a blacklisted ad term, what legislators actually say when he visits Capitol Hill, and how he reads the November deadline. He and Jason also get into why cannabis and hemp operators keep treating each other like the enemy, and the case that alcohol, cannabis, and hemp can all win at once.21+ where legal. Nothing here is medical, legal, or investment advice. Listen to the full conversation on High Functioning.