Global variable not retaining value

Good Morning All,

I'm having a problem with a global value retaining its value between the workbook_open event and module code.

I have the following declared above everything else in my Thisworkbook module

Option Explicit
 Public N As Integer
 Public WS As Worksheet
 Public RUNNOW As Double
 Public PUB_PWORD As Integer

At the end of my workbookopen event I have

 PUB_PWORD = 0
    End Sub

when debugging (f8) PUB_PWORD has a value of 0 as expected until it hits the ends sub where it becomes 'empty'

I have a module that is checking the value of PUB_PWORD and i its not 1 running code before setting it to the value of 1

I know I could store the value within a worksheet cell but as I only needed to retain value for the user session didn't think it would be required.

any ideas why this might be failing?