I feel the social and cultural norms (of Singhs obviously) are worth considering. Not everything is black and white; there is a grey area on some things. For example, 50–100 years ago Singhs ate gurh from the marketplace but now for hygiene and bibek reasons many only have bibeki gurh. Some Singhs do not eat store misari, others do. Homemade bibeki ghio is ideal but sometimes store bought is also used. Nowadays, due to widespread water pollution in Panjab, many bibeki Singhs are drinking filtered and bottled water. Previously this was unacceptable. Outside of Panjab, most of us drink abibeki milk, ideally this is not acceptable but we make do.
The industrialized hemp in the Northern hemisphere (Cannabis sativa) is completely different to the agricultural hemp (
Crotalaria juncea) that has historically grown wildly in India (ਸਣ or ਸਣਕੁਕੜਾ). To my knowledge, there is no separate word for the western “hemp” (Cannabis sativa) in Panjabi, if we had to explain to a traditional bibeki Singh what it is, we would have to say “ਇਕ ਕਿਸਮ ਦਾ ਭੰਗ ਹੈ, ਜਿਸ ਵਿੱਚ ਬਹੁਤ ਥੋੜਾ ਨਸ਼ਾ ਹੈ”. I doubt the response would be positive.
Globally, there is also a debate between hemp and marijuana because they are virtually indistinguishable by appearance and the only way to tell the difference on dozens of varieties of cannabis is to do a chemical analysis of the THC content: [
dev.purduehemp.org]
ਕਬੀਰ ਭਾਂਗ ਮਾਛੁਲੀ ਸੁਰਾ ਪਾਨਿ ਜੋ ਜੋ ਪ੍ਰਾਨੀ ਖਾਂਹਿ ॥
ਤੀਰਥ ਬਰਤ ਨੇਮ ਕੀਏ ਤੇ ਸਭੈ ਰਸਾਤਲਿ ਜਾਂਹਿ ॥੨੩੩॥If we all agree that bhang (cannabis) is forbidden and unacceptable to consume, then industrialized hemp (Cannabis sativa) is undeniably a type of cannabis and therefore is forbidden. Whether it is intoxicating, or not, is irrelevant because it is still a type of bhang. It is better for us to assume that both the product (bhang) and the effects of its consumption (intoxication) are prohibited, rather than just one or the other. Furthermore, industrial hemp does contain trace THC (typically around 0.3%). If food products contain trace alcohol or traces of meat, fish, or egg, Singhs avoid such products. I feel the same applies here.
In the case of poppy seeds, it is not the seeds that are used to make opium but rather the whole unripe poppy bud (before it even fully grows the seeds inside) oozes opium latex in response to being cut. [I am not sure about eating poppy seeds because they do contain opiates and have an effect on the central nervous system; but that is a separate topic]. With wine, it is the wine, derived from the grapes that we are forbidden from and not the raw product of grapes. Wine and opium are both derived forbidden products. Bhang is a forbidden raw product, fish is also a forbidden raw product. Comparing industrialized hemp (Cannabis sativa) with non-alcoholic wine would be more just, because that is essentially what it is: the same forbidden product without intoxicating effect. Here, with cannabis, it is not a case of an acceptable food (grapes) being processed into a forbidden product (wine) but it is the raw product itself (cannabis/bhang) that is forbidden hence all derivatives (seeds, oil, or powder) and varieties (hemp or marijuana) also are, whether or not they have intoxicating effect.