I know, it is really sad news...he was a super nice guy too, never hurt a fly, and I'm not just saying that because he died. He was 19 at the time, and I was 20. I was pretty shocked to hear it.
Keep in mind that in 2002, the political climate was a bit more stringent when it came to planes after 9/11. Bringing it to Australia was ok, but once customs found it, they grabbed it. I'm not sure if he had his prescription, but I would assume he forgot it at home, which was a grave mistake if that was the case. For him to get the medication in Australia would have been a lot of politics also - getting his documents shipped down from Canada to Australia and this type of stuff, since you can't just go to a doctor in Australia and say you need such and such drug. He died at 19 as the victim of politics and strict policy when he would still be around now if not for that.
My point exactly customs here are a bunch of turds...
Like what was your friend gonna do with his medication go sell it on the street give me a break!
Huge shipments of everything come in ALL the time and the customs are paid off to clear it all... The only ones getting busted are the ones not in partnership with the corrupt officials (and even then all that stuff ends up back out there being sold by the dealers that the cops protect).
One big car dealer in sydney is the coke kingpin btw and he has never been busted and never will...