Is It Pain Killer Drug Addiction (or Other Drug Addiction) or Is It Drug Dependence?

Without question pain killer addiction is serious, but is drug addiction being confused with drug dependence? What is the distinction between the two?

A patient being treated with a pain killer can become dependent, but with controlled and appropriate use of the medication, the patient can return to some level of normal living and normal activities following discontinuance of the drug.

Physical dependence on a drug suggests that sudden stopping of the drug may result in negative consequences.

Addiction is both a biological and psychological condition.  A person exhibits compulsive behavior to satisfy their craving for a pain killer or pain medication even when there are negative consequences associated with taking the pain killer or drug. An opioid-dependent pain patient has improved function with the use of the drug while an opioid-addicted patient does not have improvement.