WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are hoping to persuade Boston and New Hampshire officials to abandon plans to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.
Food and Drug Administration Associate Commissioner William Hubbard will meet Thursday morning with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
"It's about time we forced the issue," said Menino, who announced last week that the city will begin buying drugs from Canada even though the program is not legal.
New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson, who made a similar announcement last week, turned down an invitation to meet with FDA officials in Washington.
"At this point the governor intends to move forward with our plan," Benson spokesman Wendell Packard said Tuesday. He said Benson would meet with FDA officials if they went to New Hampshire.
Hubbard will first make his pitch to Boston leaders, hoping to debunk the Canadian pharmacies' claims that they are providing the same safe drugs that Boston employees could get in the United States. Instead, Hubbard said, they could be getting substandard or unsafe drugs.
"We'll be explaining the legal and health concerns," said Hubbard, who has laid out the same arguments to officials from other states, including Illinois and Wisconsin. "Afterward, they declined to proceed with their program, once they understood our concerns."
The FDA has repeatedly argued that buying drugs from Canada is illegal and risky because it cannot guarantee the safety and dosages of imported products or Internet sales.
Menino also will meet Thursday with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who recently introduced legislation that would allow the importation of drugs from Canada. Kennedy is the ranking Democrat on the Senate health committee.
A growing number of states are studying proposals to buy Canadian drugs, and several have provided a list of Web sites for workers to use to make their purchases. But so far the FDA's repeated safety and legal warnings have stalled any plans for a state to import drugs from Canada.
Only one city, Springfield, Mass., has defied the FDA and put a full program in place. Springfield Mayor Michael Albano said the city has saved more than $1 million in drug costs since July.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson "has talked about doing a pilot program — they have a pilot program. It's right here, in little ol' Springfield, Mass.," Albano said Tuesday. "And we haven't had one safety concern and we're getting over 2,200 people enrolled. People are signing up virtually every day."
New Hampshire may become the first to implement a statewide program. Packard said the state Department of Corrections is hoping to soon begin its program to buy drugs from Canada for prisoners.