Coffee shop "clubs" in Amsterdam?

Bill there are many threads on the Amsterdam forum on tripadvisor.com,, coffee shops are not clubs,, they are still open to the public, including tourists. Apparently the laws being proposed to restrict assess to coffee shops is only coming into affect later in May , and only in northern regions of Netherlands, Amsterdams shops will still be accessible to tourists for quite some time as many locals don't think the law will pass easily in Amsterdam. Anyways, if you go on tripadvisor.com on the Amsterdam forums you will find several helpful posts, some with links to other forums that are not um,, travel related exactly. ( tripadvisor.com is a travel forum,, and very helpful as is this one) I haven't been to Amsterdam in decades so not much help with specifics,, plus what I did at 25 I do not do at 50, lol but I am revisiting Amsterdam this year and while I am at Ann Franks house ,, my friend has decided to look at a coffeeshop.

Thanks, Pat. I was getting conflicting info on the dedicated thread, so I thought I'd start a new one. If your reports are true, that's good news, but I'll head over to TripAdvisor.

I have been following this out of a general interest in the topic (among others, my college student sons were in Amsterdam this past summer). I have been periodically checking online for actual news on this issue, and I have not seen anything later than information indicating that as of the beginning of 2013 this law will be in effect in Amsterdam also. It would not surprise me if some smaller hotels, b and b's, pensions, etc would have someone they could contact who would be a member of a coffee shop and could surreptitiously obtain cannabis for an inquiring guest.
In other words, back to purchasing in the streets, just like here!

The nationwide law restricting coffee-shops to residents currently only applies to some border-cities. As things stand now the law will apply to the rest of the country January 2013. The city of Amsterdam opposes the law and is trying to get an exemption. At this point it's 50/50 if that will happen....so time will tell.

Just checked with the owner of the B&B we will be staying in, and he said--for the time being, anyway--the coffee shops are welcoming tourists "with open arms."

I hope I wasn't implying that I was going to spend four days zonked out in a coffee shop. The "real" Amsterdam is very high (no pun intended) on our list.

Bill - I understand your curiosity. I've never tried drugs in the U.S. but I have eaten space cakes (the Amsterdam term for brownies) 2 of the 3 times that I've been there, just for the experience. It's an odd feeling to buy the cake in a store and take it out on the street. One reason I like Amsterdam so much is because the tolerance that has been part of that city for centuries is still there. People are very friendly and it's cool to be in a capital city where there are more bikes than cars.