# It's so hard getting hold of drugs **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 18, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068 "2004-03-18T19:28:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/1 "2004-03-18T19:28:29Z")
Why do drug manufacturers still produce unopenable packaging for their products? It isn’t like no one has yet invented packaging that works. I have bought too many pills in packets that do not open according to instructions, but require scissors and great dexterity to open. Some of the tear here instructions require more force than this reasonably well built more than average strength man can muster. I have pills for depression than drive me almost to suicidal despair whenever I try to “peel here”. It would be easier to peel a freaking coconut. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/2 "2004-03-18T20:00:52Z")
Well, there’s really no other way to make sure that Rush Limbaugh paces himself. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/3 "2004-03-18T22:02:23Z")
Here’s a nice bit of irony for you, and not an uncommon one either: When I was four years old, my grandmother would enlist my aid to open the childproof caps on her meds. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/4 "2004-03-19T04:07:02Z")
When I was a kid I could open the things… now I can’t. Have they changed the design of them? ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/5 "2004-03-19T04:08:04Z")
I swear, the lid on the bottle of pills I got for my carpal tunnel problems (which were so bad that it hurt to pick up an empty soda can) was so damn hard to open that the only way I could get to my sweet, sweet meds was to pop it against the edge of my desk like a beer bottle, resulting in pills flying everywhere. Thank Og so many over-the-counter meds have easy-to-open keep-away-from-kids versions. ---
**Author:** ![Toddly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@Toddly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toddly)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/6 "2004-03-19T04:52:17Z")
You’re talking about the sealed individual pills I think. They are damn hard to open but you can be assured they are fresh. I have to cut them open most of the time too because I don’t have any fingernails. As far as the bottles go can’t you ask for any easy open lid if there is no danger of kids getting to them ? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/7 "2004-03-19T05:01:46Z")
> [@Toddly](#): > > As far as the bottles go can’t you ask for any easy open lid if there is no danger of kids getting to them ? I remember my grandfather’s medication came in bottles that were threaded for childproof on the outside and non childproof on the inside and you could flip the lid over to switch between them. Which was a good thing because grandpa had terrible arthritis and would never be able to open a child proof cap. I think that the pharmacy used those bottles for all perscriptions. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/8 "2004-03-19T05:02:11Z")
Just today I complained to the manufacturer of one of my migraine meds that their new packaging is even more difficult to open than their old stuff. Considering that anyone who takes their med is in pain, sometimes severe pain, you’d think the would make is easier to open. My anti-nausea med, which is a delicate dissolve-on-the-tongue pill, is easy to open, so someone out there is capable of getting it right. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/9 "2004-03-19T05:43:41Z")
I managed to get an easy-open ibuprofen bottle awhile ago, and I’ve held onto it - I transfer my new pills into the old bottle so I can get some in the middle of the night when the last thing I need to do is fight with a child-proof cap. I understand the mentality behind the child-proof caps, but we have kids in our house an average of never. When I go to buy meds, there are a zillion different choices for everything except how easy the package is to open. If I can choose between 25 different scents of anti-perspirant, why not drug packaging? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/10 "2004-03-19T05:56:57Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#): > > When I was a kid I could open the things… now I can’t. Have they changed the design of them? I recall reading somewhere that most “child-proof” lids work on the principle that you push down while you turn – which is what most kids naturally do with _any_ stubborn lid – even a jam jar. Push down for traction. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/11 "2004-03-19T06:00:46Z")
I thought I was going to barf up a lung before I could get into some of those over the counter NyQil gel-cap motherfuckers. A pair of scissors or an Exacto knife would have worked just as well, but apparently I can walk through life with a cigarette lighter as the only complex tool I need, and I don’t even carry one of those. That’s when I realized that I don’t have a decent pair of scissors, or an Exacto knife, or an AK-47, or a goddamned satchel charge. If someone came into my house trying to blow it up with a timed charge, I can’t even find a damned pair of eyeglass screwdrivers to dismantle the device so that I can defuse it with the needle-nosed pliars I know I have around here somewhere, but can’t find them for fuck’s sake. I lost my Brookstone wallet tool kit by showing it off at a bar while I was snockered. I’m an American, dammit! I’m supposed to be armed to the teeth with weapons that could blow that fucking childproof bullshit apart so hard I can inhale the vapors and cordite and catch a damned buzz. Instead I walk around like nothing can touch me, because probability tells me that I’ll never need that shit. I’m such a fucking pussy, man. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/12 "2004-03-19T06:14:06Z")
“Look at that-- I opened it right up! My thumb. I opened it right up.” -Carol Burnett I saw it _once_, twenty-five years ago, but by God I’ve had cause to remember that sketch frequently since then. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/13 "2004-03-19T13:00:25Z")
I think a lot of pharmacies will dispense medication into a non-childproof container on request. My mother-in-law has had several medications dispensed into non-childproof containers…particularly for her arthritis. ---
**Author:** ![Nathan\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/47e85d/32.png) [@Nathan\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nathan_S)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-so-hard-getting-hold-of-drugs/235068/14 "2004-03-19T15:30:51Z")
> [@Sofa King](#): > > I thought I was going to barf up a lung before I could get into some of those over the counter NyQil gel-cap motherfuckers … I’m an American, dammit! I’m supposed to be armed to the teeth with weapons that could blow that fucking childproof bullshit apart so hard I can inhale the vapors and cordite and catch a damned buzz. Instead I walk around like nothing can touch me, because probability tells me that I’ll never need that shit. Sofa King, thanks for the chuckle. I think I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum here. I normally carry a variety of knives and other gadgets, so no packaging will long resist before me. “Childproof” container? Ha! I’ll chop that mutha open in no time flat.