Holistic meds. vs. narcotic pain killers

I often wonder if the crime rate and homeless rate would be lower if instead of being prescribed narcotic pain killers, people were given a referral for holistic medicine or pain management technique. Before this class I never even thought of substance abuse/drug addiction as a mental illness. The reason I'm so curious is because my ex is a drug addict who is pretty much addicted to anything now but it started out as a pain killer addiction. He broke his tail bone in 2007, he was prescribed a narcotic pain killer for his pain. Instead of sitting on the blow up doughnut seat and only taking the pills when his pain was a 7 or above (on a 1-10 pain scale), he took his pills and went on about his business. Long story short he has been in and out of jail since May 2008. He lost his job because he couldn't get out of bed without his pills so then he turned to selling drugs to buy his drugs. Selling drugs is illegal so he got probation, selling drugs (again) breaks probation so then he went to jail and the story pretty much just repeats its self a few times. Once you get a criminal record then it is hard to get a job even if you go to rehab and get sober. No job=no money=homelessness. Homeless shelters are filled with people suffering from mental illnesses, not so much people who have fallen on hard times. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, "20 to 25% of the homeless population in the United States suffers from some form of severe mental illness" (National Coalition For The Homeless). According to the Micheal's house website, "It is estimated that more than 5.2 million people use prescription painkillers without a prescription each year," I couldn't find any stats for people who are addicted to pain killers who have a prescription. I have yet to find any statistics to show that people become addicted to acupuncture for their pain or any other holistic pain management technique for that matter.

Here are some links with additional information:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=4082759&page=3

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/Mental_Illness.pdf

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4999162994534049687&postID=5681947126162234256

Double click my title for some holistic pain management techniques.