"Requiring that convicted sex offenders be provided Viagra for sexual dysfunction, paid for by the taxpayers, is one of the worst policies ever developed by the politicians in Washington," Schwarzenegger said in a news release.

But state law bans anyone from cross-checking a database of sex offenders with a healthcare database to see whether any California sex offenders receive the state-funded drugs.

Without a change in the law, there is no way of knowing whether convicted sex offenders even receive these drugs, much less whether the state pays for them.

Government-Reimbursed Viagra

Schwarzenegger's move came days after a New York state audit showed 198 sex offenders there received government-reimbursed Viagra between January 2000 and March 2005. Other states quickly searched their databases and found hundreds of other sex offenders getting the pills.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services then warned of sanctions -- including the potential loss of federal funding -- against any states that don't make serious efforts to cut convicted sex offenders off from these drugs.

CMS Director Dennis Smith said states should review procedures and work with physicians and pharmacists to prevent federal money from paying for sex offenders' impotence drugs. Providing such drugs to sex offenders could "constitute fraud, abuse or inappropriate use of Medicaid funds," he wrote.

Legislative and Regulatory Proposals

Schwarzenegger said his office will "lead the effort for the swift enactment of legislative and regulatory proposals that prohibit (erectile dysfunction) drugs from being provided to sex offenders."

Governors in several states, including New York and Virginia, already have issued similar bans.

Meanwhile a state official in Virginia said that last year a government program for the poor, elderly and disabled paid for Viagra and other prescription impotence remedies for 52 men registered as violent sex offenders in the state.

Governor Mark R. Warner issued an emergency order barring the state from paying for the men's drugs.