If we wish to equate addicts with pain patients, the more appropriate comparison is with the under treated pain patient. He is in the hospital or inactive at home, he is a major drain on his family's emotional and financial resources, and he does not contribute productively to society. Another difference between addicts and pain patients comes when it is time to get off the drug on which they are physically dependent. For addicts, this is a major hurdle. For the pain patient, it is typically an uncomplicated process.
Drugs have a completely different meaning to pain patients, however.
Because of the meaning of drugs in an addict's life, drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing condition. Because of the very different meaning of drugs in a pain patient's life, drug addiction rarely, if ever, occurs after opioid use has stopped. This is a crucial point. The data most often cited to link addiction to medically administered opioids were derived from studies with addicts. In the first place, this group is highly unrepresentative of the general population.