Two Brazilian guests just checked out this morning. They were lovely guests, if a bit high maintenance, and I enjoyed their stay. However, as they were checking out they shocked me by telling me that they'd ordered marijuana seeds by mail and that they hadn't arrived yet, but that when they do arrive they want me to keep them and plant them in my garden. What?!?! About a month before they arrived they asked if they could have some on-line shopping sent to my house, and if so would I give them my name and address. I always say yes to these requests because I know that foreign guests often buy consumer merchandise much cheaper in the U.S, and they love to order things from sites like Amazon. They told me to watch for 4 packages. Three packages arrived by the time of their visit, all addressed to me. Now I just learned that the fourth contains marijuana!! Marijuana is legal in California, and just as I allow guests to drink wine and spirits in my home I allow guests to smoke marijuana (outside in the garden), BUT I draw the line at having it sent to my home! Although it's legal in California, it's not legal at the federal level and all their other packages were sent via the U.S. Postal Service. That was very inconsiderate and clueless on their part to do that. I hope I don't get a knock at my door from someone wearing a badge! I don't want to prohibit future guests from ordering on-line and having the packages sent to my home because it's such a nice service to provide and creates a lot of goodwill, but this has given me pause. They are a well-educated, upper middle class couple (one is a doctor, and I adore Brazilians and speak Portuguese myself), but I'm flabbergasted by their assumption that that was appropriate. They consume a lot of pot and I guess their heads are too foggy. Anyway, I doubt there'll be repercussions in pot-friendly California, but imagine if they'd done that to a host living in a state that still criminalizes marijuana. I'll have second thoughts the next time a guest asks to send packages to my house!
