TALLAHASSEE — A state program created two years ago was supposed to get badly needed cancer drugs to some of the thousands of uninsured Floridians. The number of people it had helped by the start of March: one.

In the past several weeks, two patients at a Lee County hospital have been able to get drugs from the program, said Tina Gegeckas, who administers the program at Lee Memorial Hospital Inc. Those have not yet been reported.

Gegeckas is optimistic.

"I think the program has a lot of potential, without a doubt," she said.

In 2006, lawmakers overwhelmingly supported the program to allow donations of unused medications to cancer patients without insurance.

Other states, including Louisiana, have managed to fill thousands of prescriptions for free in similar projects. But Florida's program has not had similar success. It has a full-time staff member, but only three of the nearly 300 hospitals eligible to participate statewide have signed up. Together they have taken in just seven drug donations.

That has not deterred lawmakers who are talking about expanding the program this year to allow more than cancer drugs to be donated.

Some have been frustrated with the current efforts.

"We were hoping for much better results after the first pass at it," said Mike J. McQuone, executive vice president of the Florida Society of Health System Pharmacists, which supported the program.

The lack of participation is not due to lack of need, the program's supporters say.

More than 100,000 Floridians will be diagnosed with some type of cancer in 2008, according to the American Cancer Society. And nearly one in five Floridians lacks health insurance.

The cancer drugs they need are out there, too, and being wasted, supporters say.

The problem with Florida's program is a lack of publicity, backers say. The state has not spent money to promote the program or directed agencies to do so.

"Physicians don't know about it," said Rep. Gayle Harrell. "Clinics don't know about it. If people knew about it, I think there'd be many more people that participated in it." Harrell sponsored legislation that created the program in 2006 and is sponsoring its expansion this year (HB 7063).

There are complications hampering the efforts to collect drugs, too. Unlike some other states, Florida severely restricts who can donate medications, to try to ensure that they have not been tampered with. Individuals who have received the drugs cannot donate. Only drugs that are in their original packaging and have been exclusively in the hands of drug suppliers, hospitals, hospices, pharmacies or nursing homes are eligible.

Another challenge is that many hospitals are already familiar with alternative ways of getting drugs for the uninsured and may be reluctant to change how they operate. Drug companies have charity programs, and hospitals also bear some of the costs of treating the uninsured.

One large private-sector program that matches low-income people with free or nearly free drugs through drug companies, the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, said it has matched about 350,000 people in Florida with medications since 2005. It did not know how many cancer patients got medicine.

But Harrell and others who work with patients say a need still exists. And getting medications from the companies can be complex and require a lot of forms, Harrell said.

Thirty-three states have created drug donation programs, and some have had significantly more success.

Louisiana, for example, has about a dozen charity pharmacies statewide that dispense donated medications free to people who need them.

Louisiana does not keep track of how many people are helped, and its donation laws are less strict than Florida's. Last year, however, a single charitable pharmacy in Baton Rouge filled over 38,000 prescriptions worth $2 million, the vast majority using donated medication, said Michael Acaldo, head of the Baton Rouge Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which runs the pharmacy.

Lawmakers are hoping that Florida can emulate that success. Under legislation proposed this year, more than 4,800 pharmacies would be able to participate, compared with 285 now, along with about 3,500 doctors and nurses who are registered to dispense drugs. Still, the program would not come with any advertising dollars or directives to promote it. And hospital participation would remain voluntary.