Opening drawer of empty optical drive

Is there a command to tell an external optical drive to open that still works when there's no disk in it? It has a button on the drawer, but it's vary tiny, and it requires a push in the opposite direction of opening. It's so thin that I have to pick it up off the table to push it, and I have to push hard enough and not too hard. And if I'm not fast enough, the slight pressure is enough to prevent opening.