FDA Approves Painkiller Obama Administration Warned About in December

In areas throughout the United States, a premium has been placed on black-market pills that utilize the old, crushable formula.

Gross says that new generics from Canada "haven't filtered down" to Florida yet, but that his team has begun looking for them, and that the new FDA approval of generic OPANA could bring a new supply of cheap pills from within the United States.

[READ: 'Abuse-Resistant' Oxycontin May Be Driving Addicts to Heroin]

The FDA says it has received a number of "Citizens Petitions" to reverse its decision on generic OPANA and that it could not comment on the "substance, details or timing of our deliberations on these petitions," but that it is "actively reviewing" them. Requests for comment from the White House were not returned.

Rep. Keating says the longer the FDA waits to act on this issue, the more harm it will do.

"In my state alone, almost two people a day are dying from this," he says. "It's a life-or-death issue. It's a national disgrace that our country continues to fail to act on this."

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