It's hard to get people to quit smoking, and it's often said that 'cancer cures smoking'; what steps do you think we, as a society, can do to finally rid ourselves of this powerful carcinogen in our lives?

"The perceptions popularized in the media about smoking include glamor, 'coolness,' and a strange version of maturity, to those needed by cigarette companies to replace the customers who die daily from it. Such a turnover is a cruelty in that the replacements are the young. Rather than engage in a doomed battle against smoking in those who are already smoking--except for my own patients, that is--I feel I should contribute, wherever I can, to discourage initial exposure of smoking to non-smokers. I have an obligation to the community to do what I can to prevent starting at all. You don't have to do a lot of research in educating others--there's already tons of very frightening statistics that only need to be conveyed. This subject needs to use all of the tricks that propaganda uses, that is, continuous, unrelenting, and opportunistic publicising, because it's good propaganda and just that important."

This question extends the one above about destructive behavior as pertaining to the individual, but out to society in general. As a society that has learned some painful lessons with Prohibition (alcohol) and for which there seems no clear victory coming in our 'War on Drugs,' this question is another one in which there is no correct answer. All it really wants to know is where your mind is as it pertains to the ills of society in general and how you plan to make a difference individually. Hospitals use community outreach as part of their marketing strategy, so if you include that, too, you'll seem like a good fit for them.

"I am fully aware of how prohibition of something desirable, and more so, of something addictive, doesn't work. Besides crusading against it with each individual patient, I will also take every opportunity to address it publically with volunteer work for those who are most at risk--school children."