Photo via TerraSol Dispensary - Facebook
TerraSol Dispensary - Third Ward Interior
TerraSol Dispensary in Milwaukee Third Ward
Mike Sickler is that rarest of business competitors—one who will help anyone who wants to enter the Wisconsin cannabis trade maneuver his or her way around state restrictions to sell legal hemp-based products to a growing number of consumers looking for medical relief from pain or the option of making a good day just a little bit better.
West Bend natives Sickler and partner Keefe Olig began looking into legal hemp-based product sales, made possible by the 2018 Federal Farm Bill, which legalized the growth and sale of hemp products in the state. The breaking point for Wisconsin growers and vendors is the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—the stuff that makes you high—found in the plant. Cannabis plants or products must weigh in at or less than THC delta-9, or 0.3%. Levels beyond that amount push the plant over the line from a source of simple farm products like rope and animal bedding, into the intoxicating realm of a Schedule 1 drug on par with heroin and other opioids, LSD, peyote and other forbidden fruit.
In 2018, Sickler and Olig started bringing together the idea of a cannabis products shop while sitting around Stickler’s kitchen table. Today, the partners have grown their enterprise, named TerraSol, into two retail outlets—one in Milwaukee’s Third Ward and the other in Menomonee Falls. The retail outlets comprise two of the nearly 60 similar shops located throughout the greater Milwaukee area, not counting the many gas stations, liquor stores and other retailers who also may stock some of the same product on their shelves or behind glass counters at the registers. In all cases, consumers must be 21 years old to buy.
Different Approaches
‘We’re all the same in what we sell, but we’re all also a little bit different based on our approach,” the entrepreneur says. “Carrying the right products and providing education to buyers is what sets us apart.
“Also, we never sell anything we wouldn’t use ourselves,” adds Sickler, who first turned to cannabis products to treat a constant knee pain. “We stress strong, clean, organic products whenever we can.”
Buying or growing raw material for the products they sell is never a problem, and the pair shop locally as much as possible. Commercial products are subject to rigorous testing, and Terra Sol maintains the documentation to prove it. Shipments arrive daily via commercial carriers like UPS, but the U.S. Postal Service does manage to lose a shipment every now and then, Sickler says.
The pair is happy to talk to anyone interested in getting into the business and helping them do things the right—and legal—way. TerraSol does a lot of work with Janesville-based American Extractions, which they say produces some of the cleanest product in the industry.
“They are so good at what they do,” Sickler adds. “No heavy metals, pesticides or harsh chemicals are used in their processing. We want to give the best experience to the customers that we can.”
Still, there are challenges to being part of the cannabis business in Wisconsin, he explains. In addition to quality issues, dispensary owners must stay up-to-date on changes within the laws and the environment affecting cannabis. Right now, the market for CBD products for treating pain is oversaturated, Sickler says, so products using legal amounts of THC are the ones gaining ground. And the day may come when Wisconsin legalizes cannabis like neighboring states Michigan and Illinois, so current entrepreneurs old and new need to be prepared for the ways that may change the market.
Back in 2023, then, State Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard (D-Madison) submitted a bill to legalize cannabis. In the wake of that bill the state Department of Revenue predicted that Wisconsin’s cannabis industry could top $170 million during the first three years in tax revenue from marijuana sales. The bill didn’t pass and Agard is now the Dane County Executive, but that doesn’t mean something similar won’t surface in the near or distant future.
“We want to make sure we’re poised and ready when Wisconsin goes fully legal,” Sickler says.
