TABLED REQUEST: The state Medical Marijuana Commission will wait until next month to consider a change of ownership at the Heber Springs dispensary.

State regulators held off today on approving a new owner for a Heber Springs medical marijuana dispensary that has been at the center of a complicated legal battle among former law partners. 

The state Medical Marijuana Commission was set to consider the transfer of ownership of Enlightened Cannabis for People of Heber Springs from a group of four owners to Danny W. Brown of North Little Rock. 

Doralee Chandler, the commissioner’s counsel from the attorney general’s office, said she had received a letter saying the dispensary is involved in litigation and urged the commissioners to table the item. The commission voted to table it until their meeting on Aug. 20. 

The letter Chandler received was not immediately available from the commission, according to commission spokesman Scott Hardin. 

In 2022, Marshall Wright and Josh Landers, two of the dispensary’s current owners, filed a lawsuit alleging fraud against Alex Gray and Nate Steel. Gray and Steel are executives at and part owners of Good Day Farm and were law partners with Wright. Steel and Wright are former state legislators. 

Wright and Landers’ suit alleges that when medical marijuana business applications opened in 2017, Gray and Steel solicited friends and other individuals to be figurehead owners for out-of-state operators to satisfy state ownership requirements. The suit alleges Wright and Landers were on the hook for tax liabilities without seeing income from the business. 

Gray and Steel filed a counterclaim against Wright and Landers last year alleging that Wright was aware of their representation of an out-of-state management company. The suit also states that Wright asked them or their associates to buy his dispensary license for $6.4 million. After Gray and Steel denied the request, they allege, Wright threatened to publicize salacious and false allegations against them. 

A similar case with different plaintiffs in Pope County was closed today after a settlement agreement led to a judge granting a joint motion to dismiss the case. A statement provided by Steel late today said that the defendants in that case — Jennifer Fisher, Bryan Fisher and Scott Pace — no longer contend Steel or Gray are “responsible for any claims or damages alleged in the action.”

The Heber Springs dispensary is owned by Dr. Regina Thurman (55%), Landers (25%), Wright (24%) and Sandra Garcia (1%). 

After the transfer, Brown would have been the sole owner of the dispensary. Brown also owns 24.5% of BOLD Team cultivation in Cotton Plant.

In other business, the medical marijuana commission approved a change of ownership at marijuana processor Dark Horse Medicinals. Daniel Speer, who owned about 1.5% of the company, and John Paul Denham, who owned less than 1%, will no longer hold a stake in the business. Commission documents said Speer’s stake will be transferred to John Marvel, Hardin said. Casey Flippo will remain the biggest shareholder in the company with 21.4%. 

The commission also approved the sale of Good Day Farm Hensley from sole owner Todd Denton to Saltwater Investment Group in a deal that involves converting debt obligations into equity in the company. Saltwater Investment Group has 94 owners, including Denton, and the largest shareholder will be Juliette Dobbs Allen, with a 9% stake in the business. 

The commission also approved a change at Good Day Farm cultivation that involved some members reducing or increasing their ownership shares, but the change did not eliminate or bring on any additional owners. 

The commission will meet next on Aug. 20, when it will consider Greenlight Little Rock’s proposed move to Jacksonville near its border with Cabot.