Best way to talk to a friend about addiction?

[IrishofNDMan]

One of my best friends since middle school started taking different prescription drugs (not prescribed to him) such as xanax, vicodin, and methadone. At first he would do it every once in awhile, but lately it's been an every day thing and has gotten so bad that I pretty much avoid all of his phone calls because all he ever has to ask is if I have money so he can get some type of pill.

He tops it off by being a no call no show to work and sure enough he gets fired, so he def. cannot support his habit now. My other friend and I have realized how bad he has gotten (whenever we see him now he looks like a mess) and noone else is stepping up to do anything so we are both kind of in the middle on what we should do. We both know something must be done or he is going to end up in jail or even worse OD cause he doesn't know when enough is enough.

Only reason I ask what you guys think I should do is because I don't want to take this to someone who knows him. I've thought about calling his mom and not letting her know who it is but just telling her that her son needs help. Bad idea?