WASHINGTON – Prescription drug prices could drop dramatically for American consumers if Maine’s two senators get their way with legislation that would allow the wholesale import of drugs from Canada.

Joining other senators at a Capitol Hill press conference, the two Republicans, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, said their bipartisan measure would open the door for U.S.-licensed pharmacists and drug suppliers to import federally-approved drugs from Canada where prices average 38 percent less than in the United States.

“The cost savings will be handed down to all,” predicted Snowe, who also is pushing the Senate to create a prescription drug benefit for seniors under Medicare. “No person should have to choose between filling a prescription or buying groceries.”

Supporters of the legislation said that while U.S. drug firms enjoy generous tax incentives and grants to develop drugs that are protected under long-term patents, patients are compelled to pay far higher prices in the United States than in other countries for the same prescription.

“It simply does not seem fair that American consumers are footing the bill for the remarkable, yet costly, advancements in pharmaceutical research while our neighbors across the border receive these medications at substantially lower prices,” Collins said.

The proposal also would allow individuals holding the proper prescription to personally import a 90-day supply of Canadian drugs to anywhere in the United States, including by mail, telephone and over the Internet.

Congress has seen similar legislation passed into law twice before, including one effort co-sponsored by Snowe and Sen. Jim Jeffords, the Vermont independent, which the Senate overwhelmingly approved two years ago.

However, previous measures were broader in scope and allowed drug imports from all major industrialized countries. Administration officials under Presidents Clinton and Bush opposed implementing the laws because of concerns about counterfeit pharmaceuticals even if the original product was first shipped from the U.S.

Hoping to address health and safety concerns, lawmakers said on Wednesday that they have narrowed their legislation to legalizing imports just from Canada where drug development, manufacturing and distribution systems operate under laws similar to U.S. regulations.

Moreover, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would be granted power to immediately suspend the importation of any drug that is found to be faulty or counterfeit.