Video From USA Falsely Shared as One Showing Condition of People in Venezuela

The video is from Kensington, Philadelphia and does not show visuals from Venezuela.

A video from the USA is being shared to falsely claim that it shows the condition of Venezuelans due to a drug crisis.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Altered by The Quint)

A video showing people scattered, hunched over, and laying down on various streets is being widely shared on social media, following the US' arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The claim: The clip is being shared to claim that it shows visuals from Venezuela, which, despite being rich in oil deposits, had people struggling with drug issues.

• It adds that people were in this condition because the State provided them free food, causing people to continue consuming drugs.
  

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here, and here.)

Is it true?: No, the claim is false as the video is from Philadelphia's Kensington in the USA and not from Venezuela.

How did we find out the truth?: We saw text at the beginning of the video, which read 'Kensington Areas'.

• Next, we ran a reverse image search on the video, which led us to an X post sharing the same video as one from USA's Philadelphia on 7 January 2024.

• In one part of the video, we saw a shop's board which read 'Vivian Nails'.

• When we looked for the shop's name along with Kensington, Philadelphia on Google Maps, we found that the video was indeed taken in Philadelphia, and not Venezuela, as claimed.

Vivian Nails is in Kensington, Philadelphia.

(Source: X/Google Maps/Altered by The Quint)

• Philadelphia's Kensington, which is a working class, low income neighbourhood, has been a hub for rampant drug use and abuse for several years, CNN noted in this report from February 2024.

Kensington continues to battle a drug crisis, with first responders reversing at least one overdose every day over a new drug, this December 2025 report by The Guardian said.

Conclusion: A video from Kensington in the USA is being falsely shared as one of people suffering from a drug crisis in Venezuela.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)