There are active ingredients TO FOOL the subject into thinking they did not get a placebo. However, the active ingredients DO NOTHING for the condition being studied, or it would not be a placebo.
By definition, a placebo does nothing for the condition being studied. The seemingly only thing that you say right, but don't understand is : "The placebo is given to measure and control for the placebo effect."
Going back to my original point, the study did not include an active pain medication, so while it can be said that Mindful Meditation is better than just meditation, or treatment that has no active ingredients (can you live with that as opposed to treatment that does nothing?), no conclusion can be draw how Mindful Meditation compares to any type of actual pain medication. For all we know from this study. The placebo effect could give a 1 on a scale of 1 to 100 for pain relief. Mindful Meditation could give a 2, while aspirin gives a 40 and opioids give an 80. Or it could be that Mindful Meditation gives a 50 and the drugs stay the same.
No way of telling because that wasn't studied and one should not take away the impression that rushing out to some quack peddling the latest fad in meditation is going to instantly cure their pain.