Madison, Wis. -- Your cheap drug connection could dry up within the next couple of weeks.

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The new Canadian health minister said his government might ban mail order prescription drugs.

Boarding buses and heading to Canada was the original way to get cheaper prescription drugs. More recently, the affordable drug connection is through state-sponsored Web sites or large buys backed by senior citizens advocacy groups. The drugs are mailed from Canadian pharmacies, but that could soon be outlawed by the Canadian government.

"The level of expenditure was getting to the point where if there was a way to save any significant amount of money, it would make a lot of sense for us on fixed incomes," said Jack Taft, who orders drugs from Canada.

Taft and his wife, Portia, get two drugs via mail from Canadian pharmacies through the Coalition of Aging Groups. The couple said they save big dollars.

"On those two drugs on an annual basis, it's close to a $500 saving," Taft said.

Gov. Jim Doyle said he wanted families, like the Tafts, to save when he announced the creation of a mail order prescription service last February. In addition, Wisconsin has partnered with Illinois to offer lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada, as well as Ireland and the United Kingdom.

"Now we'll see whether the drug companies will try to shut down the United Kingdom and Ireland," Doyle said.

The governor said he suspects drug companies are putting pressure on Canada to close down the mail order business.

"When people find an option, the drug companies conspire to do everything they can to try to shut that option down. So, I hope this will finally prompt the federal government to take some action," Doyle said.

And unless there's action, affordable drugs through mail order from Canada may no longer be an option.

"Well then our drug costs would go back up close to $500 a year again," Taft said.

The Canadian health minister said his country is on the verge of banning mail order prescription exports because it's unethical for Canadian doctors to co-sign prescriptions when they haven't examined the patients. But, Canada's mail order industry agrees with Doyle that pressure from the United States pharmaceutical industry is to blame.