Cruel irony in the great Northwest. With profitable flashes of wild clarity, Gov. Jay Inslee snuffed out MMJ, sending recreational pot sales through the stratosphere.

Crushing their month-over-month sales of recreational marijuana in the Evergreen State, officials have announced the state harvested $23.5 million in marijuana-related excise tax during the month of July. More a matter of political muscle than popularity, these record-breaking profits came after the state first eliminated all medical marijuana dispensaries as competition.

Screw the patient, grab the cash:

With just over five months remaining in 2016, the total sales of recreational marijuana in Washington State came in at just north of $347 million — $25 million more than 2015’s total of $322 million.

Washington State i502 Recreational Marijuana Sales

According to 502data.com, King County, Pierce County, Spokane County, Snohomish County, Clark County, Thurston County and Kitsap County sold the most recreational pot in the state. The following dispensaries made some rather sizable contributions to the state’s coffers:

Excise Tax Paid by Top 5 Marijuana Retailers

Main Street marijuana – Clark County – paid $519,554
Uncle Ike’s – King County – paid $516,109
Clear Choice Cannabis –Pierce County – paid $396,443
Greenside – King County – $355,232
Kushmart– Snohomish – $295,462

Further adding to the state’s bottom line and their patient’s misery index, as of July 2015, Washington State’s producers, processors, and retailers witnessed their marijuana excise tax increase from 25% to 37% for all recreational sales.

Now ruling the land with an intense focus on generating cold hard cash, rather than compassion for their patients, the ‘Cannabis Patient Protection Act’ (a.k.a. SB 5052) rescinded medical marijuana on July 1, 2016, forcing those dispensaries without an I-502 license to close up shop. The Cannabis Patient Protection Act ultimately drove a majority of the state’s patients into a cannabinoid deficit frenzy, as the state replaced their now defunct 1,500 medical marijuana dispensaries with a paltry 222 new retail shops.

While profitable for the state, SB 5052 is nothing short of a nightmare for its patients; a bad movie, and a terrifying joke on all medical marijuana patients.

Greed before compassion – how will this end?