'WE CARD' PROGRAM TAKES AIM AT UNDERAGE SMOKERS

The Great American Smokeout focuses on helping adults quit smoking and helping teens avoid starting.

There is another special day designed to discourage youths from starting to smoke. It is called "Kick Butts Day," a movement marked earlier in the year, that is gaining recognition.

More than 50 million people light up every day in the United States. National smoking rates have been increasing over the past decade, reflecting a steady rise in cigarette use among children and teen-agers.

Teen-agers make up the largest group of new smokers. An estimated 1.23 million people under age 18 became daily smokers in 1996. That's an average of 3,000 new smokers a day.

These statistics were revealed in November by the University of Michigan. Added to those numbers are these statistics: National smoking rates increased among students in grades eight, 10 and 12, and 22 percent of all high school seniors smoke daily.

Smoking has been increasing steadily, especially in the 1990s.

The increases have occurred despite federal legislation that prohibits the sale of cigarettes to people under 18. In Cape Girardeau it is illegal to even give tobacco products to youths.

Although the big increase in new smokers is in the 13-to-17 age bracket, some youngsters have their first cigarette before they are 10.

So where do these youngsters get cigarettes?

Some get them from retailers who are lax on asking for identification.

Teens tell there friends where they can purchase cigarettes, and this information is passed on. Also, older friends sometimes buy them for younger teens, Children "bum" from each other, and some take cigarettes from their parents' packs.

A new coalition has been formed to prevent sales to minors. The Missouri Coalition for Responsible Tobacco Retailing has established a program designed to prevent underage access to tobacco. The program is called "We Card"

The coalition is made up of the Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, Missouri Grocers Association, Missouri Retailers Association, Mid-America Grocers, Ozark Empire Grocers and Retail Grocers Association of Greater Kansas City.

Cape Girardeau Mayor A.M. Spradling III has joined mayors across the state in declaring Tuesday as "We Card Awareness Day." Mayors Clarence Harmon of St. Louis and Darwin Hindman of Columbia have joined the movement.

On the same day, Feb. 16, the first of a series of free "We Card" training session will be held in Cape Girardeau.

The local session will be held Tuesday at Drury Lodge form 10 a.m. to noon. Speakers will discuss requirements of the Missouri and Federal Drug Administration minimum-age tobacco sales laws, how to detect fake IDs, how to handle difficult situations when sales are refused, and more.

Other training sessions will be held at St. Louis Wednesday morning at the Mid-America Grocer Building on Hampton, at Columbia Thursday morning and at Capitol Plaza at Jefferson City Thursday afternoon.

The "We Card" program was actually established in 1995 and provides signs for stores.

The "We Card" logo features black letters on bright yellow -- "Under 18 No Tobacco" -- and white lettering on bright red -- "We Card, state law prohibits the sale of tobacco to minors."

The program is national in scope and includes more than 150,000 retailers nationwide.

"Our direct mail program will reach out to more than 300,000 retailers," said a coalition spokesman.

Members of the coalition have cited a need for easy access to training programs and education materials for retailers to help store employees prevent underage tobacco sales.

"With more than 25 million tobacco transactions a day in the convenience store industry, it is important that our employees have an array of tools that will help them in prevention of tobacco sales to minors," said Fred Higgins, chairman of the board of the National Association of Convenience Stores."

Hopefully people will understand if they are carded, said David Overfelt of the Missouri Retailers Association. "It's against the law to sell tobacco products to anyone under 18 years of age, and everyone under 27 must show their photo ID." he said.

The "We Card" program has gained the support of most retail outlets, junior chambers of commerce and countless police organizations throughout the country. In some instances police departments have ordered "We Card" materials to distribute to retail outlets. The program has been endorsed by the National Association of Police Organizations, which represents more than 3,500 police associations and unions in the nation.

Hundreds of "We Card" seminars have been held throughout the nation, and hundreds more are planned for this year.