Sophie Peel

Sophie was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She attended college in the South and worked for NPR in Georgia as a Couric Radio Fellow before moving back to Oregon and working for Willamette Week. She currently freelances and fills her free time with frequent existential crises.

Oregon Decriminalizes Most Hard Drugs; it’s all About Mental Health

Sophie Peel November 3, 2020

PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon paved the way for marijuana legalization to become the norm in red and blue states alike, and this election, voters there may have started a new national trend. They voted to decriminalize possession of all drugs under small amounts, while also passing a separate ballot measure to allow the use of […]Read More

It’s Not just Marijuana: The New Push to Decriminalize all Drugs

Sophie Peel October 25, 2020

PORTLAND, ORE. – When marijuana started getting legalized in piecemeal fashion across various states half a decade ago, opponents painted it as a slippery slope: Legalize marijuana, and then what, a society devolving into hard drug use, lawlessness, and vagrancy? On the surface, those predictions look to be coming to fruition this November when Oregon […]Read More