The ancient Egyptians were making pills. Mortar and pestle, that most essential tool for apothecaries, you use it to grind and combine your ingredients in the right proportions. Roll out the resulting ball into a rope. Cut rope into even-sized pieces. Coat pills - toffee if it's for children, shellac for adults, miners get theirs gold-dusted (helped with the joints). A pill rolling "machine" was available in the 19th century to make this a bit more uniform.
Of course, the Vicodin that Melvin provides isn't going to look the same as a rolled pill - it's probably going to look more like a shape made by a candy drop machine, from about the same era.
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