I don't mean to down-talk opiates... I love them too, but the way they effect people is very addictive.
It's hard to be a casual opiate user. Especially if they're your DOC. To each their own. I wouldn't consider it abuse if you're taking some Opana or dope after work to help you relax. Differs wildly from being an unemployed dope user- pawning everything to get another bag.
Or pawning other people's possessions to get another bag. Or going through people's purses. Or even robbing people. I know someone like that, he was a good friend of mine at one point. Until he cleaned out MY purse, that is. No idea how he did it, because I knew all this about him... and even though I trusted him, I still made sure to keep my purse with me at all times around him, just in case. Which just goes to show how skillful he was in stealing from people, that he was able to do it right in front of my face without me noticing. Needless to say, we are not friends anymore. He also used to swear up and down that he wasn't addicted, that he just wanted to use for fun, and that he would stop every few days and take Suboxone before starting up again.
To me, that right there is the definition of someone who is in over their head and is abusing as opposed to self-medicating. He has a ready supply of Suboxone at his disposal, he doesn't need dope to self-medicate. But yet he still swears up and down that he's not addicted and is lying to himself and everyone else... all while he is noticeably fiending for dope and ruining friendships just to get one more fix. One fix vs. a lifetime friendship. When the first option becomes more desirable to a person, that's when the problem has gotten completely out of control. Idk, it's sad. But at the same time, I won't forgive him. Throughout all of my years using drugs, opiates (my definite DOC) never ONCE prompted me to steal or pawn anything, the thought never even crossed my mind. I just dealt with it until I had my own resources to get more. The only drug that ever made me steal was meth... part of it due to being an idiotic teenager too, I'm sure... but regardless, I stopped all of that shit once I was arrested. Finally realized what I was doing and haven't touched it since. It's been like 8 years; I just decided I wanted to stop one day and that was the end of it.
Of course, I know meth doesn't have physical withdrawals the way some other drugs do, but it can have a pretty strong mental hold on you. Some of the people I used to do it with are still doing it to this day... always saying they're going to quit, but it's only ever talking and absolutely no action. That's another thing I feel you have to take into account - the ability/desire that person has to stop.
At the end of the day, addiction and drug abuse is never black and white. It depends on the individual, that person's circumstances, their DOC, etc. etc. etc. It's one of those things that EVERYONE has an opinion about, but no one's opinion is either right or wrong. It just... is what it is. Addiction and drug abuse is pretty messy territory.