MEDICINE PACKAGE, METHOD OF OPENING THE PACKAGE, AND MACHINE FOR PERFORMING THE METHOD

A medicine package including a reservoir containing the medicine, the package bearing a machine readable code indicative of the characteristics of the medicine contained therein. If from reading the code it is determined that the medicine contained in the package can be used to satisfy the needs of a particular patient, then the package is opened and the code is rendered unreadable by the machine. A machine for reading the code, opening the package, rendering the code unreadable, and maintaining a record of the dispensing of the medicine to a particular patient is also disclosed.