As legislation and innovation in the legal cannabis world move at an unpredictable pace, previously unrelated businesses are putting an eye towards the cannabis market to see how they can take their slice of the booming industry.

We were surprised when we came across this article explaining how the former president of Wrigley's Chewing gum has made a bold move into the cannabis industry. William Wrigley Esquire II sold his family's business to Mars Inc. back in 2008 and has now acquired an enormous stake in the cannabis startup, Surterra Wellness, securing himself a chairman position.

Surterra has ten medical dispensaries in Florida and has a license to operate in the nearly non-existent Texas market. One can assume that Surterra will continue to preemptively acquire permits in other states to corner the market as much as they can with the massive funding they've been granted.

While Wrigley does seem to be an advocate of both medical and recreational cannabis, this type of big investor power move into the industry from an outside source is becoming very common. A once wholly grassroots movement to for medical and then recreational cannabis for everyone is slowly becoming controlled by large investors hoping to cash in on the hard work of advocates and small businesses.

At the end of the article Wrigley even seems to suggest that cannabis business and investing should be left to the big boys, pointing out that many investors will be surprised by how complicated the market is. What do you think? Is this good or bad for the cannabis consumer or enthusiast on the other end of this market? If you would like to know more here are links to the High Times and Bloomberg articles.