Topeka ? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has ordered a top health care policy adviser to study how much money the state could save by purchasing prescription drugs from Canada for its employees and needy Kansas residents.

Sebelius hopes the study will pressure the federal government to address rising prescription costs, her spokeswoman, Nicole Corcoran, said Friday. Several other governors and some members of Congress want to lift the federal ban on importing drugs from Canada.

“She’s hoping this will help urge the federal government to take action,” Corcoran said. “It isn’t, obviously, something that can be fixed at the state level at this time.”

As for actually purchasing drugs from Canada, Corcoran noted the federal ban and said, “It’s definitely not something we’re pursuing.”

During a speech this week to the Kansas Hospital Assn.’s annual convention in Wichita, Sebelius said, “Ultimately, the solution to the problem of high prescription drug costs isn’t the Canadian market.”

Sebelius said during her speech that she had assigned the study to Bob Day, director of her office of health planning and finance.

Supporting her action was state Sen. Jim Barnett, a doctor who advises patients who cannot afford prescriptions at American prices to seek them at lower prices from Canada. Barnett said he did not want to hurt Kansas pharmacists but worried patients otherwise might go without medication.

“I think anything pushing Congress to do more on the huge problem of prescription drug costs is a worthwhile effort,” said Barnett, R-Emporia. “I think the pharmaceutical industry has Washington and Congress under its thumb.”

But Kansas House Appropriations Committee Chairman Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said Sebelius’ fellow Democrats among governors and in Congress were raising Canadian drugs as an issue to embarrass President Bush, a Republican.

“It’s more political rhetoric than reality,” Neufeld said.

A majority of U.S. House members favored lifting the ban on importing Canadian drugs, but many of the lawmakers writing the final version of a prescription drug bill in Congress opposed the idea, as does Bush and the Food and Drug Administration.

Critics argue Canadian drugs may not be as safe as their American counterparts, while pharmaceutical companies contend they will lose revenue that supports research.

But Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, is lobbying to have the federal ban lifted. He commissioned a study that said his state could have saved $91 million last year on prescription drugs for its employees.

And Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, has announced plans to help people in his state buy cheaper drugs from Canada through the Internet, negotiating drug prices and setting up a Web site linking Minnesota residents to Canadian pharmacies.