The thinking at the time was that only the wealthy could afford powder cocaine and the cost made the drug self-limiting as to the damage it could cause.
This legislation was driven by the inner-city Black communities.
To tell the truth I thought it made sense at the time. Everything you read about crack at the time made it out to be the worst thing you could imagine.
Just like meth a few years later they said you were hooked on the first use.
It seems like every few years some new horror drug hits the street and dealers are making millions.
If you look at the gun violence you see a spike around the time crack hits the streets. It subsided somewhat in the early/mid 90s.