ARLINGTON, VA - September's We Card Awareness Month was celebrated by retailers, wholesalers and other stakeholders and continued We Card’s two decade mission to educate and train the nation’s retailers. In total, 26 governors issued proclamations and letters of support, which further raised awareness of the importance of proper retail education and training to prevent the underage sale of age-restricted products.

For 20 years, the program's iconic yellow-red-black "WE CARD” message has been ubiquitous across the nation and serves as a reminder that retail employees must be trained and made aware of state laws and federal regulations.

Since We Card’s founding in the mid-1990s, there has been a significant decline in youth access to tobacco retailer violation rates as measured by the federal government’s Center for Substance Abuse and Prevention’s SAMHSA Synar Report. In 1997, the Synar Report indicated that the national weighted average retailer violation rate was 40.1%. The latest Synar Report for FFY 2013 shows a rate of 9.6%.

In 2015, We Card launched new resources for retailers, including:

• A new Smartphone site – www.wecardnow.com, which provides retail management and employees with quick access to its resources.
• New e-vapor responsible retailing resources, including an “E-Vapor Kit” of in-store signage and training and education materials for retailers who sell e-vapor products.

“We’re thrilled to get the widespread support of so many stakeholders across all channels of trade.  Now more than ever, we need to redouble our training efforts to ensure that retailers are aware of new state laws regarding the sale of e-vapor products,” said Doug Anderson, president of We Card.

Through its leadership within We Card, NACS is working to ensure merchants are properly trained in the responsible retailing of electronic cigarette and vapor products and is awaiting final FDA deeming regulations that would set a regulatory regime for these products. NACS is a founding board member of We Card.