Be careful what you bring, you might get caught 'smuggling'

I came across an alarming article via TreeHugger today.  Two raw foodists were charged with smuggling when they were bringing 2.5 pounds of raw chocolate through the US-Canadian border.  Canadian authorities mistook the chocolate for hashish.

But their trouble with customs didn't stop there.  On another trip within the US, they were arrested at an airport with the same charges.  From the article:

Desperate to prove themselves right, the American drug enforcement police ripped though Ron and Nadine's luggage and clothing, opening every vial, asking questions about all the "strange" things they found there.

What kind of strange things? Sea salt. Zeolites. Tea tree oil. Essential oils. Hemp seeds. Probiotics. Raw cacao nibs. You know, dangerous superfoods and supplements.

Source: NaturalNews.com

This reminds me of a similar incident in an Austrian airport a couple of months ago.  Authorities interrogated a man when they thought that the bacon in his carry-on luggage was a bomb.

Situations like these are unsettling, or even scary, for travelers who like buying uncommon products and have to bring them through customs.  In the case of the raw foodists, declaring everything and getting their lawyer to call the authorities beforehand didn't work.  Probably because the field kit drug tests themselves produce false positives and security personnel are overly eager to make arrests.

If we can't trust the screening process or the judgment of the authorities, what do we do? I refuse to believe that the only option for travelers is to avoid bringing home anything in the first place.

Have you ever been in a similar situation?  What do you think could be done to avoid them?