He's an extremely visible character expressing medical opinions on a regular basis to a large portion of the US population, shouldn't he have already done his research instead of being a tool? Does the past no longer exist, no such thing as "damned because he did?"

Gupta's defense is the sort of defense that will reach people like my mother convincing them that marijuana is not evil and has real medical uses. That outcome is a good thing and I do not wish any harm to his reputation now because it will be against my interest and I'm hoping/assuming having "done the research" this time will give persons like you ammo for pushing him to defend his position in the future.

I don't think the past goes away but generally I'd rather not condition people to not admit mistakes. And here I'd rather win now than be right now. Then maybe be right in the future.

you sounding real crazy right now... giving false scientific opinions when you make a living as a medical 'educator' because its better for you personally is cool now?

Dude coulda, woulda, shoulda been surgeon general with that much influence i would expect this dude to actually scientifically analyze stuff before giving his scientific evaluation.

He deserves some credit for having fessed up to being wrong.

On other topics, especially in economics, the punditry is full of people who have been hilariously wrong for years, having made predictions a long time ago that have been clearly incorrect, and who still have never once even hinted that their models were wrong.

Yes, Gupta should have done his research earlier. But compared to a lot of the scum in the media, he is basically a saint. He deserves to be praised, if only to encourage others to follow his lead and admit when they were wrong.