But the market can change that. In Seattle, for example, when edibles were first legal they were ridiculously priced because of the licensing requirements, and they haven't gotten much better.
You can buy the oil and bake your own, but that requires more money and effort up front ($50-$100).
It's also incredibly easy to grow your own. It's called "weed" for a reason; if you threw some seeds in your back garden, in a few months you'd end up with something that would get you high for almost zero effort.
And if you grow your own, you end up with plenty of "trim" (plant parts that aren't suited for smoking but still have lots of psychoactive ingredients). Most home growers will cook their trim with butter for a few hours, strain off the plant material, and use that to make edibles. It's not as scientific or consistent as the commercial methods, but it's easy and completely safe.
> You can buy the oil and bake your own, but that requires more money and effort up front ($50-$100)
It doesn't require much money or effort at all. I regularly make small batches of oil using as little as 0.5g of kief.
I melt a little coconut oil, dump in the kief (would work with weed too, of course) and cover with tinfoil. Then I bake it at 115C/240F for 27 minutes - cannaoil, done!
THC is metabolised into a stronger form, THC-9-COOH, so edibles really make it go further. Plus the effects last several hours instead of the 1-2 when smoking or vaping.