(not the syringe and not the "a band or belt that one would use to make their veins more visible")
Calling heroin the "dinosaur" came from an earlier slang used for Heroin "Tar". It's a common belief that dinosaurs became fosil fuel or "tar-like" over millions of years... The La Brea tar pits (in Los Angeles, CA) is an example.
The other slang contributing to the use of the "Dinosaur" meaning heroin is the saying "monkey on your back" referring to any addiction controlling you.
In the song Pool Shark by sublime Brad sings "tying on the Dinosaur tonight. ...use to be so cool."
Here he is referring to how his recreational heroin habit had grown into a full blown uncontrollable addiction. Describing his "monkey" as a "dinosaur" he had on his back can be interpreted many ways.
Brad was acknowledging the enormity of his problem, his increasing consumption, his inability to control it and also acknowledging the fact that all heroin addicts face extinction every time they get high... extinct ...like a dinosaur.
Tragically poetic!
The "tying on" or "tying off" is slang for the process of finding a vein to shoot up or more so ...the complete ritual of shooting up any drug to get high... but I digress.
"I like lying naked in my bedroom
Tying on that dinosaur tonight
It used to be so cool...
But, now I got that needle and I can shake
but I can't breathe.
You take it away but, I want more and more
One day I'm gonna lose the war." -Brad Nowells (1968–1996)
The best animal known to man kind they are not extinct like many think they are just in the witness protection program much love for these fantastic animals=
**note
I do not know how scene kids... well... communicate would be the appropriate word. I'd have to lower my IQ by several points to probably get it right.
1.) The term means "terrible lizard", derived from Greek words. Extremely successful creatures who are believed to have died out 65 million years ago and lived/ruled during the Mesozoic era. Some (meaning the theropods) are also believed to be the ancestors of modern-day birds due to feather imprints around fossils and other similarities, with the closest links being the dromaeosaurs (raptors); however, none seem to have been able to actually fly.
There were a number of different groups, but they are generally classified by whether they were herbivorous or carnivorous, which is also also by the structure of their hip bones (bird- or lizard-hipped). Some, if not all, might have even been warm-blooded. They were also the descendants of reptiles, not the other way around. And contrary to popular belief, most were not ridiculously huge. Most were were about the size of a large car or smaller.
Although it seems like we've dug up every dinosaur that ever lived in the world, in truth it is only a small percentage, so we'll never actually really know that much about them. Oh, and don't forget that thanks to World War II, the first fossils of Carcharodontosaurus and Spinosaurus were destroyed.
2.) Something old or outdated; obsolete. May also pertain to the description of an older person.