Facing budget-breaking increases in prescription drug bills, the governor of Illinois took the first step Sunday toward purchasing lower-cost medications from Canada, a move that puts him in direct conflict with federal regulators and signals a dramatic escalation in the civil war over U.S. drug prices.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, said he has directed the Illinois special advocate to draft a plan for buying inexpensive medications in Canada for as many as 240,000 state employees and retirees.

Illinois would become the first state to pursue Canadian drug purchases for its workers, but Blagojevich joins a much larger trend. Even as Congress debates whether formally to legalize the practice, millions of Americans have decided the financial savings are too large to pass up. Despite its claim that the practice is illegal, the FDA has generally looked the other way.