i understand your concern here and rightfully so. it sounds like your friend is under a lot of stress. it's stressful being that age and knowing you're still living with your mom when most at that age are already out on their own. this can be causing a lot of insecurity on his behalf thus more anxiety. which to me it sounds like he's attempting to bury through alcohol amongst other issues likely.

i used to do drugs myself, speed specifically and while i wouldn't rule out that he could be using speed i'm not strongly leaning towards it as really the case. almost everyone, ok everyone, i knew who used admittedly used it not only for its effects but it is strongly considered to be a social drug. people while using enjoy the social interactions with others. where as in this case it doesn't sound like he leans strongly in this direction. i say this because he doesn't want his friends trying to be his parent and whatnot. it sounds more like he's trying to push others away from him, but maybe at the same time trying to maintain it even though he's becoming less comfortable with having others around. i'm leaning more towards the possibility that there's something else going on.

also for most of those who use the drug like to stay awake as long as possible, and most of them prefer to do this during evening hours. again interacting with others as they do this. even though his periods of sleep appear to be brief this doesn't totally indicate it to be drugs especially this one. for those i knew who did it would crash (or sleep) for hours and hours often to the extreme after they used them. i'm leaning more towards the idea of maybe some bi-polar issues going on for him. although i'm not clear about his up's and down's, and i'm definately no expert by any means of the word. i've just been around the block a time or two is all.

the hair loss issue is of obvious concern to him as well. it makes sense he doesn't like it. i mean after all who would at such a young age? it sounds like his fear associated with this is growing and growing to becoming the obsession you speak of. i'm merely guessing here, but i'm curious if there isn't some paranoid feelings beginning to really surface here via through the hair issue which could easily turns in more directions than just this if it hasn't already and you're just not aware of it yet. if this is the case you will encounter this probably soon too.

i'm sure this is hard to see, and i'm sure you don't want him to be feeling like this. i wouldn't want any of my friends to feel this way either. i would just try to encourage you to encourage him to just maybe look into it. maybe just tell him that's it just look into it. it can be his choice after this if he chooses to deal with it or not obviously, but it never hurts to just check it out. it could help him understand a little better the feelings he's experiencing with all this, and again his choice if he wants to deal with it, but at least he could just know. at the same time whether he chooses to see it now in his heart he's going to see that you do care, and would like to try to see him get some help in the matter. please make it clear to him though that the choice is his, and that you're not trying to parent him or telling him what to do you're simply encouraging this. you're just concerned and would like to see him get some help is all.

there's one more thing i just thought of when it comes to people using speed. they tend to build a lot of confidence while they're using. they will feel like and more often than not be willing to do just about whatever strikes their fancy. they're trying to get all sorts of things accomplished. they will take on projects they've been putting off, or things of this nature. they're very very busy people and can't tend to sit still at least for too long. confidence is very high while they're high, and when they come down they crash very very hard. this is one of the things that keeps people going back to the drug. they don't want to go through the down side of coming down or off of the drug so they continue to use to maintain everything this drug falsely offers. this tends to make them very outgoing people. i didn't really get this impression from what you shared here that your friend is anything like this. maybe he is and i just don't know. so again i'm not leaning too strongly towards the idea that he's actually using speed. i learned a long time ago to never say never, but this is just my impression based on the little i do know. hope it's helpful to some extent.

i hope for the very best for you, your friends, and this gentleman foremost. please take care and keep us posted if you don't mind. i'd be curious to hear how this developes.