A Nigerian woman was arrested in the United Kingdom after using the word “drugs” instead of “medication,” which led to confusion and her eventual detention by authorities.
The lady identified as @shakels95, shared her shocking experience of being arrested due to a simple misunderstanding of Nigerian jargon.
According to her, she had gone to a pharmacy to purchase medications for her husband when an innocent remark during a phone conversation led to her unexpected arrest.
While speaking to her husband on the phone, she casually used the word “drugs” instead of “medications,” unaware that people around her at the pharmacy misinterpreted it.
Moments later, the police arrived and took her into custody.
Recalling the incident in a TikTok video, she said, “I got arrested yesterday, last night, and got detained. Now, I am going home. Story time. So, yesterday, I went to the pharmacy to get some drugs for my husband.
“Then, when I got it finish, I was on call to say, ‘Ah, I got the drugs, I got two drugs for you. So, when I get home, when you use it, you are going to be strong.’
“Ok. Not knowing people closer to me were like, ‘drugs, drugs, drugs,’ but I wasn’t bothered ’cause I felt I didn’t do anything wrong. Before I knew it, the police came. When they came, they were like, ‘we heard there is drugs.’
Nigerian living in the UK narrates how she got locked up because of her Nigerian English pic.twitter.com/saJK8HsPi3
— Dami’ Adenuga (@DAMIADENUGA) February 3, 2025
“And I said what drugs? This (displaying the medications she got) was literally what I was referring to as drugs, Ibuprofen, for my husband because he wasn’t feeling well…”
Despite her attempts to explain the situation, the police refused to take her word for it.
She revealed that they detained her at the station and even searched her home in a bid to verify their claims.
“They took me to the police station. They detained me. They asked me questions…” she added.
Meanwhile, this has generated mixed reactions from netizens while some claimed there’s nothing wrong in words, others said it’s basically profiling of people of colour.
@larrybanky1 on X wrote; “The dictionary (in their language) has it that a drug is substance recognized by an official pharmacopoeia or formulary. It is a substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.
T’aa ló wọ wii ninuu wọn? Sue wọn jọ!”
Another user @OdoThomasIke said; “This is absurd. Firstly, the term “drug” is official and an acceptable synonym for “Medication”.
The D in NAFDAC means Drug. Secondly, the synonymous use of “Drug” in place of “Medication” is not limited to Nigeria.
The D in FDA (in the USA) also means Drug.
@EkezuIkpa_II in his reaction said; “I am surprised about the over-reaction by the Police. I’ve been telling our people here to stop calling medications “drugs” as it is quite embarrassing. Same way our people keep mispronouncing Google as “goggle”. When our people say “goggle it”, people don’t even understand them.”
@GICKENG commented; “It’s interesting how language varies across cultures. In Nigeria, “drug” commonly refers to medication, while in the UK, it often has a different connotation. It’s all about context!”
@Jeffr2b2 reacted; “All medications are drugs, but not all drugs are medication. You’re not so wrong to use the word “drug”. Part of the reason you were arrested is because you’re black.”
