• A lethal hold on Maine
• Alcohol-impaired susceptible to rages of fire
• Coffee brandy ranks as state's drug of choice
• Alcohol's effects on the body
• How reporters researched and wrote this series
• Alcohol-related deaths in 1991

Liquor enforcement authorities confiscate a cache of alcohol being trafficked on the Portland waterfront in this photo from 1922. Bootleggers took advantage of Maine's rocky coast to import the illegal drug until the passage of the 21st Amendment on Dec. 5, 1933. Photo courtesy Maine Historical Society

Alcohol is mankind's oldest and most widely used drug. Its origins pre-date recorded history.

Early humans' interest in alcohol probably starts accidentally in pre-agricultural gathering societies. Fermentation occurs naturally when fruits and other organic material are left exposed in a warm atmosphere. Presumably, early people like the effects and the taste, and learn to produce alcohol on purpose.

4200 B.C.: Scenes showing the fermentation process appear on pottery made in Mesopotamia.

Several hundred cultures around the world learned to produce beer and wine before they established written language, as evidenced by the many early customs and regulations relating to alcohol.

Sumerian physician/pharmacists prescribed beer as medication as early as 2100 B.C. By 1500 B.C. Egyptian doctors are prescribing beer or wine in about 15 percent of their prescriptions.

The oldest known laws regulating alcohol date to 1770 B.C., when Hammurabi, king of Babylonia, regulates drinking houses.

In the earliest societies, the state of intoxication was attributed to supernatural spirits and gods. This led to wine and other alcoholic beverages being used as offerings in religious worship, a practice that has carried over to the present in some religions.

Drinking alcohol and drunkenness evolved naturally from a religious rite into common practice. The disease of alcoholism is first identified in the Middle East in the records of early Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations. In the Far East, Hindu cultures identify the behavior of alcoholism in about 1000 B.C.

References to alcohol use are widespread in the literature and art of the Greek and Roman cultures after 300 B.C. Those cultures worship Dionysius or Bacchus, the wine god. The alcoholic drink of choice is a diluted wine of 4 to 7 percent, which historians say appears to have been more common than plain water.

Alcohol's earliest biblical references appear in Genesis. After the flood, Noah ''planted a vineyard,'' ''drank of the wine,'' and ''became drunk.''

To the Hebrew Canaanites, abundant wine is regarded as a blessing. The eyes of the Judaeans were ''bright from wine.'' Wine was also known to ''gladden the heart of man,'' and to bring relief to those who were ''bitter of heart'' or ''ready to perish.''

In religious cultures stemming from Judaism that have survived to the present, drinking is intertwined with all important ceremonial occasions, from circumcision, holidays and weddings, to the toasting of the soul of the departed. Yet, over-drinking and becoming tipsy is disapproved, and drunkenness is a cultural negative. The ingraining of that attitude is the first effective social control of alcohol abuse.

Social controls come in a variety of forms over history. Seventh century Islamic religion condemns wine, effectively establishing an atmosphere of prohibition in all the Middle Eastern lands where the people are followers of Muhammad. The widespread prohibition of alcohol also develops in Europe after the Reformation in the 16th century, and later in the United States.

100 A.D.: Brandy is evident in historical references. It is likely the oldest distilled beverage.
China has failed several times to institute prohibition over its history.

1400: Whiskey is distilled in Ireland and Scotland.

1492: Most Native Americans did not discover alcohol until the arrival of the Europeans. African cultures also were late in discovering fermentation.

1600: Gin is first distilled by a Flemish physician.
1619: The earliest colonial law addresses drunkenness, in Virginia. For a third offense: ''lye in halter for 12 hours.''

1640: The first distillery in the United States is established in present-day New York City.

1650: Rum is first distilled in Barbados. It is by far the most popular distilled beverage in Colonial America.

1650: The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony make drunkenness punishable by whipping, fines and confinement in stocks.

1776: After the American Revolution, a favorable social view of alcoholic beverages brings an increase in consumption to a level exceeding any in modern times. By the early days of the 19th century, Americans are drinking roughly three times as much alcohol as they do in the 1990s.

1789: Bourbon is distilled near Georgetown, Ky.

1804: Neal Dow, father of Maine's prohibition law, is born into a Quaker family in Portland.

1812: Organized temperance groups begin to form. First is the Massachusetts Society for Suppression of Intemperance.

1820: Maine becomes a state and takes on the same liquor laws as Massachusetts. State law provides for a ''whipping for those selling 'strong water' without a license.''

1821: Maine's first legislative session approves a law requiring that ''names of persons reputed common drunkards or common tipplers were to be posted by selectmen in all licensed places, and liquors were not to be furnished to such.'' ''Idleness'' and ''excessive drinking'' could result in a person being barred from buying alcohol for a year.

1826: Sale of alcohol is banned in Maine on election days, described at the time as ''occasions of great drunkenness and disturbance.''

1830s: There are more than 300 places to buy rum in Portland.

1834: A Maine law is passed barring the sale of liquor to ''any minor or servant.''

1837: The three-year-old Maine Temperance Union, under the leadership of Gen. James Appleton of Portland, makes its first attempt at winning prohibition legislation.

1849: Maine enacts a law that ''punishes by imprisonment any person not licensed who should sell during any cattle show or fair any intoxicating drink.''

September 1851: After a long fight, led by Portland's Mayor, Neal Dow, Maine becomes the first state to outlaw the sale of all alcoholic beverages, except for ''medicinal, mechanical or manufacturing purposes.''

Later in September, 1851: There are 48 people jailed in Portland's ''watchhouse,'' three for larceny and 45 for drunkenness.

Throughout prohibition, each county in Maine had a ''rum room,'' where alcohol seized from bootleggers was held until the next ''dumping day,'' a monthly ritual of disposing of the alcohol.

Portland's rum rooms were at City Hall. Two of Portland's old city halls burned down during prohibition, in 1866 and 1908.

1855: Twelve states have joined Maine in prohibition.

June 1855: ''Rum Riot'' in Portland. An angry pro-liquor mob outside Portland City Hall becomes violent. Gov. Anson P. Morrill, a prohibitionist, calls out the militia. Mayor Dow, leader of the militia force, orders the mob fired upon. One sailor is killed and several injured.

1860: With public attention on the Civil War, the temperance bandwagon slows, and then starts to lose ground.

1860: British writer Anthony Trollope visits Portland. ''This law (prohibition), like all sumptuary laws, must fail,'' he declares.

1867: The national Prohibition Party is formed. Since then it has fielded numerous candidates for president, for Maine governor and other offices.

1873: Dec. 23, Women's Christian Temperance Union is born. Eliza Jane Thompson leads 70 women on a march through Hillsboro, Ohio. WCTU would become the largest and most influential group of its kind.

1873: Maine's Women's Christian Temperance Union is formed.

1885: Maine strengthens its dry status, making prohibition a part of the state Constitution.

1895: Anti-Saloon League of America is formed. The combined efforts of the ASL and the WCTU are a potent force in the push for national prohibition.

1897: Neal Dow dies. His place as protector of prohibition in Maine is taken over by the Maine Christian Civic League.

1900: Carry Nation comes into prominence when she begins wrecking saloons in Kansas with a hatchet.

1911: In a state referendum, repeal of prohibition fails by 758 votes, 60,853 to 60,095.

1912: 4,562 people were arrested in Cumberland County on the charge of drunkenness.

1919: Volstead Act, an act of Congress, passes, enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages.

1920: Jan. 16, National Prohibition goes into effect, banning the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. Evasion of the law begins immediately. ''Bootlegger,'' ''speakeasy,'' ''near beer'' and other terms enter the national lexicon.

1920: August, Nineteenth Amendment, women's suffrage, closely follows prohibition. Most Republicans who supported prohibition also support women's suffrage. Their assumption is that women opposed to alcohol to protect their families, would, if given a chance to vote, continue to support prohibition.

1925: Portland's City Directory lists just six cafes and taverns. That number would grow to 28 by 1935, and to 49 by 1945.

1930: Americans routinely defy Prohibition. Officials estimate that 800 million gallons of alcoholic beverages are being produced in the country annually.

Rum-runners from all over find Maine's craggy coastline perfect for importing illegal alcohol. The business is a major enterprise in places like Hill's Beach in Biddeford, where bootleggers maintain a radio station to communicate with ships offshore. By the time of repeal, the bootleggers are better equipped than the government officers, with airplanes, armored cars, speedboats, etc.

1930: A delegate to Maine's Republican State Convention charges angrily that the officially dry GOP had plenty of booze at its conclave. The delegate is himself arrested for drunk driving on his way home.

1933: Dec. 5, 1933, 21st Amendment passes. Prohibition, the ''noble experiment,'' is repealed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares it a ''return of individual freedom.''

1934: October 1, Prohibition is repealed in Maine.

1935: The fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous is founded. It eventually spreads to 130 countries and includes 85,000 local groups.

1940: A still is raided at an Augusta farmhouse by police and federal alcohol officials, bringing the biggest seizure since prohibition.

1963: South Portland is the first Maine city to buy a breathalyzer, which determines level of alcohol in a driver's system.

1969: Implied consent law is passed. Those refusing a blood or urine test for drunken driving automatically lose license.

1969: Maine's drinking age is reduced from 21 to 20

1972: Maine's drinking is lowered from 21 to 18.

1973: Five women from the National Organization for Women challenge Maine's law allowing taverns to operate as ''reputable places for men only,'' by attempting to gain entrance to a stand-up tavern at Beech Ridge. A new law prohibiting sex discrimination goes into effect later that year and invalidates the tavern law.

1970: Sunday sales of liquor in class A restaurants is allowed for the first time.

1971: Two offenses - driving while intoxicated and the lesser charge of driving while impaired - are merged into driving under the influence.
A law requiring blood or urine samples done by a nurse or doctor, as proof of drunk driving, is relaxed to allow a breath sample taken by a policeman.

1973: Maine law allows Sunday sales of beer and wine for the first time.

1976: Benjamin Bubar of China is the National Prohibition Party's presidential candidate. Bubar, superintendent of the Christian Civic League of Maine, is on the ballot in nine states.

1977: In Maine, 7,707 people are arrested for drunk driving, the third highest rate in the nation.

1978: Maine's drinking age is raised from 18 to 20.

1980: License suspension for drunk driving is extended from one month to three months.

1980: Portland police blast the law allowing them to merely write a summons, and not arrest, persons for drinking in public.

1980: Of the 245 motor vehicle fatalities in Maine, more than half are alcohol related.

1981: New laws: Mandatory jail sentence for drunk driving. Level to be considered drunk is reduced to .10.

1982: In the first six months of Maine's tougher drunk driving laws, fatal accidents drop 44 percent.

1984: Maine State Police begin to use roadblocks to check for drunk drivers.

1985: Maine's drinking age is raised from 20 to 21.

1985: A dram shop law holds restaurant owners liable when someone leaves their establishment drunk.

1985: 7,390 Mainers are put in jail for drunk driving, serving 52,435 days in county jails.

1985: The 450 Alcoholics Anonymous groups in Maine celebrate AA's 50th anniversary.

1988: President Ronald Reagan signs a law requiring all alcoholic beverage containers carry health warnings.

1988: Legal standard for drunk driving in Maine is reduced from 0.10 to 0.08 percent blood-alcohol content.

1989: Alcohol-related highway fatalities drop to lowest level in Maine history, Of 190 dead, 30 percent are alcohol-related.

1990: Video cameras are installed in some state police cruisers to help gather evidence on drunk drivers.

1990: A new law allows seizure of vehicles driven by repeat drunk drivers.

1990: The Legislature passes a sellers and servers law, holding bartenders and waitresses liable for serving customers who are drunk.

1990s: Between 10 and 20 million Americans suffer from alcoholism. It is one of the leading causes of death.

1990s: The U.S. ranks about 20th among nations in the per-capita consumption of alcohol. Annually, Americans consume 5.75 billion gallons of beer, 570 million gallons of wine, 416 million gallons of spirits.

1990s: Alcohol commercials account for 20 percent of all ads during sports telecasts.

1995: U.S. consumers spend $104 billion on alcohol, two-thirds of that for beer.

1995: More than $1 billion is spent to advertise alcoholic beverages, three-fourths of that for beer.

1996: Seagram's liquor ads appear on television, breaking a 60-year-old voluntary industry ban on broadcast advertising.

1996: The Supreme Court strikes down a 40-year-old Rhode Island law prohibiting liquor prices in advertising.