BLISTER PACK WOES

Drug Blisterpak Packaging:
I don't know about you but I have had about enough of those silly blister packs that those "over the counter" medications come packaged in. I think that this is nothing but consumer harrassment. People buy these medications because they feel just plain lousy and they need some relief from the symptoms. They may have a cold, flu, or whatever and are reaching for a good product to give them some help. Most of these products are effective and work considerably well for over the counter stuff. The only trouble is getting them out of the damn package. Not all, but too many of these packages are just plain rediculous. They are nearly impossible to open and often prove that they are really not worth the bother when you consider the torture that you must go through in order to open them. Like the ones that are sealed with foil and then they glue a heavy paper to the foil, making it almost impossible to get the damn pill out. Some have a tiny slit so that you can tear it open from there but if you have Arthritis, forget it, you will need some kind of opener like scissors or a knife or a corkscrew, hammer, chisel or dynamite (I think you know what I'm driving at). Some of them have a tiny little corner (that you could hardly see) where the foil separates from it's attached paper. You must then fold the little corner over so that the layers of backing will separate from one another. If you try really hard, you may just begin to slip a finger nail in between the layers and separate them, but NO SUCH LUCK. The paper backing is stuck so fast that it tends not to separate from the foil but to rip itself apart leaving still way to much paper backing to push the pill through easily. These things are supposed to be "tamper detectable" so that if you can see that the foil is broken, the product may be tampered with. It would then be foolish to use it. Why don't all the manufacturers make the blister packs with foil only backing so that the pill can easily be pushed through. I would think that the object of doing this kind of packaging would be to give the consumer an indication that the product may have been tampered with, not to make the consumer's life more miserable than it is already. I believe in safety but this is really overreaction. They simply need to use a slightly heavier foil WITHOUT the paper attached and all manufacturers should make this a standard practice so that the consumer wouldn't need to play guessing games every time they attempt to open another new package. Manufacturers should have mercy on the ill and not harrass them. Will it take government intervention? Everybody seems to object when the government intervenes and forces everyone to comply to a standard of some sort. If they don't like government intervention then why don't they act out on their own to improve things for everyone. Will it take government intervention to solve this problem? Maybe we are ready for a "BLISTER PACK CZAR".