The recent legal challenges surrounding Arkansas’ medical marijuana initiative have gained significant attention, especially as the state grapples with the validity of signatures gathered in support of placing a medical marijuana proposal on the 2024 ballot.

The Arkansas agency that regulates the distribution of controlled substances arrested eight former employees of a medical marijuana dispensary in the Delta, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division’s enforcement arm announced Monday in a news release.

Eight former employees at a medical marijuana dispensary in Helena, Arkansas, were arrested by the Alcoholic Beverage Enforcement Division (ABC) and accused of fraud.

Seven of the suspects -- April Jones, Shameka Wright, Gerald W. Jennings, Lauren Delk, Austen Delk, Taylor Perkins and Demario Rose -- were arrested on felony obtaining drugs by fraud charges. The eighth suspect, the officer with the Helena Police Department, was Greg McDaniel.

Authorities said the group used the information of deceased, elderly and out-of-state patients to illegally obtain medical marijuana from the dispensary.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Secretary of State John Thurston must continue verifying signatures to put an amendment loosening medical marijuana laws on the November ballot, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

Seven of the suspects -- April Jones, Shameka Wright, Gerald W. Jennings, Lauren Delk, Austen Delk, Taylor Perkins and Demario Rose -- were arrested on felony obtaining drugs by fraud charges. The eighth suspect, the officer with the Helena Police Department, was Greg McDaniel.

The Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control, which oversees the state’s medical marijuana program, said the scheme involved selling marijuana out of a dispensary to people without medical cards.