AB Global's Pre-Employment Screening Blog

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Recent headlines about marijuana being “rescheduled” under the Controlled Substances Act have sparked a wave of confusion among employers and applicants alike. At AB Global, we’ve been fielding the same question repeatedly:
Hiring the right people starts with having the right information. But here’s the truth: your background check is only as accurate as the data you begin with. One small mistake—a wrong Social Security Number or a single digit off on a date of birth—can completely change the outcome of your screening process.
Cannabis laws in the United States are changing quickly, and many employers are finding it difficult to keep up. What used to be a simple part of the hiring process—reviewing a drug test—has become more complicated due to federal rules, state laws, hemp-derived alternatives, medical use, and changing candidate expectations.
As we close out 2025, I’m taking a moment to pause, reflect, and say how incredibly proud I am of what we’ve built together. When I founded AB Global, my goal wasn’t to create just another background screening company. It was to build something different. Something rooted in care, transparency, and real partnership. This year, that mission didn’t just stay intact, it gained real momentum.
Each holiday season, children across the world imagine Santa Claus studying his famous list to see who is naughty and who is nice. While this tradition brings joy and anticipation, it also offers a surprisingly practical metaphor for the modern workplace. In many ways, employers must act like Santa: verifying who has behaved responsibly, who may require a closer look, and who has a history that could signal future risk. Background screening serves as the company’s own version of the holiday checklist. It helps organizations identify candidates who meet expectations, uphold company values, and can be trusted with the responsibilities placed upon them.
For many employers, drug testing used to be simple: order the test, get the result, and make a decision. Today, the process is far more complex. Rapid marijuana legalization, the rise of CBD and hemp derivatives like delta-8 and delta-10, stronger employee privacy laws, remote work, and shifting state regulations have all changed the landscape.