Provided is an apparatus for identifying a medicinal substance. A tray receives and concurrently supports a plurality of pills formed at least in part from the medicinal substance. A computer-readable memory stores a drug database including one or more identifying features for identifying different pills formed at least in part from different medicinal substances. A recognition device is arranged to interrogate the pills on the tray and detect at least one of the identifying features from the pills. A controller receives the identifying feature(s) detected by the recognition device and determines the identity of the medicinal substance from among the different medicinal substances in the drug database based on the identifying feature(s).