Smart pill bottle may help fight prescription drug abuse
Marie Donlon | May 07, 2019
A flexible computer inside a medication bottle can send wireless SMS messages when someone attempts to tamper with it. Source: Muhammad M. HussainScientists from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia have developed sensors for a “smart pill bottle” that send wireless notifications when tampering, unsafe storage conditions or possible overdose are detected.
To accomplish this, the team 3D-printed a prescription pill bottle lid that relies on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to count the number of pills dispensed. Similarly, the bottle contains sensors that detect temperature and humidity conditions within the bottle, while the outer layer of the bottle is sheathed in conductive tape that behaves like a touch sensor.
If the sensors detect attempts to break into the bottle or that the contents of the bottle become too moist, it will trigger the signal and a flexible control module inside the bottle will examine the signal and send notifications to a linked cell phone via Bluetooth connection.
This is one of many research project efforts at KAUST aimed at making affordable sensors composed of inexpensive materials such as tape, paper and conductive ink accessible to the public.
The smart pill bottle is detailed in the journal Flexible and Printed Electronics.
Be careful what you wish for. The technology is impressive, for radio active substances and other dangerous substances, but the rational of monitoring individuals in their daily routines with prescription drugs is wrong headed in so many ways, Here are a few why it is wrong.
Suppose I am prescribed pain medication of 1 pill every 4 hours or as needed and after 3 hours I need another pill. It wont open. So, I break the bottle. What happens then? Who monitors it? What are the repercussions? These are not addressed. Besides the added cost for the bottle there is the cost of tracking, transmission and monitoring. The cost of drugs is high already, this will add to it.
In addition what legislation will be needed for this intrusion into doctor-patient privacy, currently Constitutionally protected in the US? (Saudi Arabia may have different laws.) What about alcohol or sugary drinks (now taxed due to "health" concerns), they will soon follow suite. What other unintended consequences could this type of control manifest?
This is not about drugs, it is about control, the raison d'être of governments today. Try holding people accountable for what they decided to put into their body. This is just an excuse for more of the same irresponsible thinking in dealing with drugs. Unlike a disease that strikes one indiscriminately, drug abuse requires a conscious act of volition to ingest. Holding the individual accountable for their actions is the only solution.
Let me close this with a few choice quotes:
"It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error." - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson
"The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants." (Albert Camus)
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C. S. Lewis
Finally it must be repeated, be careful what you wish for! Think about it!
Be careful what you wish for. The technology is impressive, for radioactive substances and other dangerous substances, but the rational of monitoring individuals in their daily routines with prescription drugs is wrong headed in so many ways, here are a few.
Suppose I am prescribed pain medication of 1 pill every 4 hours or as needed and after 3 hours I need another pill. It won’t open. So, I break the bottle. What happens then? Who monitors it? What are the repercussions? These are not addressed. Besides the added cost for the bottle there is the cost of tracking, transmission and monitoring. The cost of drugs is high already, this will add to it.
In addition, what legislation will be needed for this intrusion into doctor-patient privacy, currently Constitutionally protected in the US? (Saudi Arabia may have different laws.) What about alcohol or sugary drinks (now taxed due to "health" concerns), they will soon follow suite. What other unintended consequences could this type of control manifest?
This is not about drugs, it is about control, the raison d'être of governments today. Try holding people accountable for what they decided to put into their body. This is just an excuse for more of the same irresponsible thinking in dealing with drugs. Unlike a disease that strikes one indiscriminately, drug abuse requires a conscious act of volition to ingest. Holding the individual accountable for their actions is the only solution.
Let me close this with a few choice quotes:
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson
"It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error." - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson
"The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants." (Albert Camus)
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C. S. Lewis
Finally it must be repeated, be careful what you wish for! Think about it!