Governor Proclaims We Card Awareness Month 2023

WHEREAS, North Carolina law prohibits the sale of tobacco products, electronic smoking devices, and alternative nicotine products to persons under the age of 18; according to reports by the United States Food and Drug Administration, underage use of electronic smoking devices has risen at alarming rates in recent years; and

WHEREAS, We Card Awareness Month is an education and training effort to boost North Carolina retailers’ awareness of and participation in responsible practices to comply with federal, state, and local laws by identifying, preventing, and denying tobacco and other age-restricted product sales to minors; and

WHEREAS, retailers are taking the “We Card Retailer Pledge” to identify and deny underage youth who attempt to purchase tobacco and vapor products, and to identify and deny adult purchases on behalf of those underage where there is a reasonable suspicion that an adult customer will be providing age-restricted products to an underage person; and

WHEREAS, We Card in-store training and education materials, its online training program, and its mystery shopping service, “ID Check-Up”, are available to all North Carolina retailers through We Card’s website; and

WHEREAS, We Card is endorsed by the North Carolina Association of Convenience Stores, the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association, the North Carolina Petroleum Marketers Association, and the North Carolina Wholesalers Association; and

WHEREAS, North Carolina will benefit from a responsible retailing community that successfully prevents tobacco and other age-restricted product sales to minors;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, ROY COOPER, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim September, 2023, as “WE CARD AWARENESS MONTH” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.