It's a very good question, and my intention was never to lie about it. I think I simply did it because it was the easiest option (maybe not the best), I just didn't want to evoke any more suspicion/curiosity about it. A mixture of incompetence and the structure of the judicial system would end bad for me no matter which side of the law I am, or was. Remember that there are "intent to manufacture" drug laws, no drugs has be found on me. And because I do prepare some photographic film, and I've read on some forums that acetamide prevents coagulation of silver particles, I've always been curious to test it and see if I get any finer images. So it's not as much of a lie as to be illegal.

Any person with the knowledge that dehydration of acetamide yields acetonitrile would most definitely know that nitrile is not the same as cyanide. And the naming is irrelevant for chemical reactivity, there's a reason why potassium cyanide is not in your spices but potassium ferrocyanide most likely is.