What if the parents just needed a wakeup call, that they needed to pay more attention to their kid, spend more quality time together, be aware of what the kid is up to, and how he's spending his time?

It's easy, as a parent of a teen, to breathe a sigh of relief that they want to be independant, and don't care if we're home or not. But it's also too easy to stop parenting at that point. Parenting a teen is more than making sure there's food in the house and clean undies somewhere. While it SEEMS like the parenting "work" has lightened up, becuase we don't have to feed them, bathe them, help them with every daily task and chore, it's actually the opposite, and parenting requires more effort and focus.

My kiddo started having trouble in school, and his attitude seemed different. I popped a drug test on him. He passed. I was 100% sure he WOULD pass, and that it was just hormones and the aweful age of middle school, but I made it known up front, now, wheile he's young, that I had no hesitation being his PARENT and making sure I wasn't ignoreing signs of trouble ahead.

I also have to remind myself that I need to just be home with him more. Just becuase HE doesn't care if I'm gone at the store, or riding my bike, or at work, doesn't mean I don't need to be there more often.

I would thank a friend or neighbor up one side and down the other if they told me about a warning sign like that, that I had missed. Maybe it's not too late for his parents to re-focus on parenting, and insure this experimental phase stays that way, and doesn't ruin his life.

Do you want to see him at 20, still living there, wasting his life away smoking pot all day, unable to find the motivation to live his life?

He may still do that. But at least if you mention it to his parents, they would have had some information to possibly work with.