Freebase was identical to the powder from which it was derived on a molecular level. It was the rapid onset of the substance’s high and its low cost that made it popular, especially in poor communities that did not previously have access to cocaine. News of an easier, cheaper method for consuming the nation’s most in-vogue drug spread rapidly by word of mouth. It started first with a small group of dealers and wealthy individuals and expanded out to their associates, and eventually reached the streets. In L.A., that meant the street gangs.
