Pharmacy Board lawyer Louis Ling and incoming executive director Larry Pinson visited with about 20 Canadian pharmacies in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for a few days last week.

The pharmacies are interested in selling prescription drugs to Nevadans -- at a lower rate on brand-name drugs than is available from U.S. pharmacies. Canada has mandated discounts imposed on pharmaceutical manufacturers, while the United States does not.

In June, Gov. Kenny Guinn signed a bill into law that enables Nevadans to purchase their prescriptions through the mail from Canadian pharmacies that are licensed and inspected by the state Board of Pharmacy. The bill took effect July 1, but pharmacies will not be licensed until this fall.

"The intent of the law is to create Nevada licensed pharmacies that by design are supposed to be treated like other out-of-state pharmacies," Ling said.

The visit to Winnipeg was an informational trip that answered and raised questions, Ling said.

"It was very productive," he said. "What we learned is causing us to reconsider certain issues."

He declined to elaborate on what those issues entailed.

Manitoba was selected for the meeting because it is the center of the Canadian pharmaceutical industry and is the only province that licenses pharmacies to export drugs, Ling said.

Ling and Pinson will discuss their findings with the state Board of Pharmacy and spend the coming months working through issues and creating a licensing application for foreign-based pharmacies.

The first Nevada pharmaceutical licenses were supposed to be issued in September, but it is uncertain whether that deadline will be met, Ling said.

On June 29, Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh issued a news release that said he is working on regulatory and legislative changes that could hamper Americans' ability to buy their drugs from Canada.

One of Donsanjh's proposals would prohibit the exportation of bulk drug shipments, which he says would protect Canadians and their drug supply.

Another proposal would require patients filling prescriptions with Canadian pharmacies to have a relationship with a doctor there.

Nevadans are not likely to be affected by the limits on bulk exportation because the pharmacies the ones the met with Ling and Pinson only sell on a prescription-basis, Ling said.

At least eight other states enable their residents to purchase drugs from Canada.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, sponsor of the legislation that enables drug re-importation, said Nevadans were buying drugs from Canada long before the law passed because of the substantial savings.

She said she introduced the legislation for safety reasons.

"Right now people are buying drugs off the Internet," she said. "They may see a cute little Canadian flag and think they're buying from Canada and the Web site takes them to Sri Lanka and who knows what they're getting. That's another reason why I introduced the legislation. It requires the state to licenses the pharmacies."

Whether Nevada passes a law or not, the Food and Drug Administration says the practice of re-importing drugs is illegal. States that support re-importation of cheaper drugs say a section of the federal law says Americans can purchase a 90-day supply of drugs from foreign pharmacies for their personal use.

Michelle Swafford covers health care and small business for In Business Las Vegas and its sister newspaper, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached by e-mail at swafford@lasvegassun.com or by calling (702) 259-2326.