Absolutely. I believe he wanted this shown in Classrooms, Households and anywhere else without the ramifications of unnecessary cursing. When I say "Unnecessary",I'm not saying that it would've harmed the film, because that's obviously not the case. However, it COULD distract away from the importance of the message by alienating certain viewers. With Younger Audiences being the key demographic, it was a good choice. Crooklyn was also PG-13, so it's not as if Spike is completely immune to cleaning it up sometimes. It's a balance between Education and Subject Matter. This would've been R-Rated if it were anything BUT a Biopic.
The cocaine scene was done in such a way that the moment of actual snorting isn't in clear view of the camera. I remember reading that this was deliberate, in order to avoid an R rating.
80s pg-13 movies (when the rating was new) were definitely edgier than 90s pg-13 . By the 90s nudity beyond the occasional butt shot or side boob in pg-13 movies was almost non existent even by the time Titanic was out. James Cameron had to make an appeal to the movie censors to keep it in. I think he was able to justify it on the basis of it being "artistic" nudity & non gratuitous.