Keep in mind most pharmacy schools will not accept AP courses as a substitute for their prerequisites. Even if your friend aced the AP exams in gen. chem, the schools will likely require him/her to either take a more advanced course in chem, perhaps beyond organic chemistry at one point, or more likely, request to take the gen. chem sequence at the college or university your friend attends.
In reference to taking a course such as organic chemistry the first semester, if he is mature enough, extremely dedicated to studying while limiting leisure time, and has an aptitude for chemistry as reflected by his AP score, then I don't see any problem with taking the course. Let your friend know that in the event he decides to do this, he should take a balanced course load consisting of difficult/challenging courses, intermediate difficulty courses, and easy courses. For example, he could take organic 1 with lab, which you could say is pretty challenging, two other other courses that are not too difficult but not easy as well, and one course that is not that demanding.
Ultimately though, like I said, the answer lies with your friend. Only he or she knows what he can handle. Most would recommend an incoming college freshman not to tackle such courses as organic initiallybecause the first year is more of an adaptation process and getting settled into the college atmosphere. However, as I stated above, this really depends on the individual, so it is a very personal decision. Personally, I would have taken ochem my freshman year if I had the chance. Then again, I know myself and no one knows better than yourself.
