Determining the effective dose of street-level heroin: A new way to consider fluctuations in heroin purity, mass and potential contribution to overdose

The effective dose of heroin is a more appropriate measure than purity to identify outlier samples that containing larger than expected doses of heroin compared to typical doses that may be expected by users. Together with other identified risk factors, fluctuation in the effective dose of heroin contained in street-level samples may contribute to the potential for overdose.