[BOMBAYCAT]

Transdermal patches and lotions for aches and pains are coming on. There are a lot of food safety regulations that make it hard to make edibles. Flowers are less of a market share and dabs are going up.

[Capt.Ahab]

At the very least, in Ma. you will need an inspected/approved commercial kitchen, HACCP plans and at least one POC (Person in Charge) with a ServSafe food safety certificate to make edibles.
These are basic requirements of any food business in Ma. and most other states, I'm sure.
Depending on the nature of your edibles, if any are temperature sensitive they may even require you to get a refrigerated vehicle to make deliveries.

My experience has been that you will also need to be inspected and licensed by the local Board of Health in your town. This is done annually. They inspect your kitchen, the temps in coolers/etc. and general cleanliness/practices and requirements such as the use of gloves, water temperatures at the taps, hairnets etc. etc. etc.. This is a scheduled inspection. They can and probably will also conduct surprise inspections.

Wholesale is a different animal.
In one of my businesses I had the state performing inspections because I was distributing foods wholesale. The local BOH did the inspections for local retail and the state did inspections for wholesale. They look for the same things as the local inspectors but will also make sure your paperwork, such as your HACCP plan, temp monitoring etc. is up to date. This was always a surprise inspection and can be a grueling affair. I've had them hang out and watch everyone work, looking for potential food handling hazards and unapproved practices.

If you are working across state lines you will need to involve the FDA. Not any fun.

[Capt.Ahab]

I'm pretty sure Ma. has a "manufacturers " license also.

Originally Posted by Muleskinner

you'll have to pay the money for whatever license you need. In Mass. there will be cultivator, distributor, and retail licenses, you can buy from 1-3 depending on what your business will do. Not sure where an edible producer fits in. Not sure if you'd need a retailer or cultivator license or both.

Lawyers are going to make a lot of money helping people with all this. The laws that are passing are heavily restricted and businesspeople are going to spend a lot more on compliance costs versus other industries. Sadly. We have to keep working for the way it should be - rent a stall at the local farm market and sell your flowers direct to consumers next to the other farmers and bakers.

[Avinash.miles]

lawyer up, license up, get compliant in every way, plan a 5 year run time with expenses for employees and location overhead as well as all other expenses
stay on top of all the developments and changes happening at the regulatory levels, find out who are advocates for your states industry, and find out who are the enemies.
in your state what branch of govt is overseeing the cannabis industry? figure out how it works and who is running that ship
be prepared for bureaucracy from hell

then it's all about quality and marketing

[Capt.Ahab]

Originally Posted by Avinash.miles

be prepared for bureaucracy from hell

For sure.