From a science standpoint, splitting haploids in a plant genus is the same as breeding, only results can be attained faster than doing so in a greenhouse.
The process that occurs is the same except manually with controlled environment.
If anything a gmo should do better against pests. One of the biggest reasons behind current gmo research is pest resistance so a broader spectrum of agriculture csn be produced in various conditions.
Splitting haploids? What're we talking about? Cannabis is diploid, 2n, the sex cells are haploid, n. Recombination of sex cells creates new individuals. Splitting haploid cells, as far as I know, can only be done in a lab. Its been a while since I've taken genetics though...
Selective breeding can, through multiple generations, select for certain characteristics and make the line stable. But specifically taking certain fragments of DNA and transplanting from one cell to the next is not the same as breeding...
The process is not the same, but some of the results may be. They may be able to genetically engineer a strain to be pest resistant, but a strain bred to be naturally pest resistant is superior in my book.
IMO gene splicing and genetic engineering techniques are nowhere similar to breeding. In breeding the combination of DNA from parents produces offspring. As we all know genetic variability is good, and natural reproduction encourages such variability.
But GM cannabis will be, as I see it, a brand name product, and there will be consistency and not variability.
I understand what you're saying about many GMO products, human insulin being one of them. But I think that messing with the genome of bacteria is different than messing with the genome of a flowering plant that does complex things to us that we don't fully understand yet.
I don't think they should be messing with the DNA of the plant that produces these complex molecules that we don't fully understand in the first place.