HELSINKI, Finland - Hundreds of trucks prepared to roll onto frozen roads at midnight on Sunday, stocked with beer and hard cider for a population that eagerly awaits a historic government measure that will cut alcohol prices by nearly 40 percent.
But anticipation was mixed with fear in Finland, a country known for heavy drinking and the violence it can spawn.
Officials warned of the harmful effects of an expected surge in consumption after taxes and prices are slashed Monday in a move to prevent much cheaper Estonian drinks from flooding the country when that Baltic state joins the European Union in May.
"Finns have the traditional Friday and Saturday night of drinking to get drunk ... and when it's easier or cheaper to get alcohol, consumption grows," said Ritva Varamaki, from the Finnish Health Promotion Center.
The government says liquor plays a major role in violence in Finland. Also, the number of drunken driving cases are increasing, as are illnesses attributed to high alcohol consumption. The government has maintained a strict alcohol policy since Finland ended prohibition in 1932 in an attempt to control consumption and to increase tax revenues.
Steep taxes have meant high prices, and only the 315 stores run by the state monopoly, Alko, are allowed to sell anything stronger than mild beers and cider.
Personal alcohol imports have also been restricted, including duty free purchases.
When Finland and neighboring Sweden, also concerned about high alcohol consumption, joined the EU in 1995, they were granted special permission to continue their tight policies until January 2004, including limiting the amount of alcohol travelers could bring home from trips abroad to other EU countries.
In Sweden, the government stuck to its policy of high taxes even after the EU's special exemption ended.
In Finland, officials chose to reduce taxes now because they fear what will happen after May 1 when Estonia joins the EU and Finns are expected to swarm to their southern neighbor to buy cheap drink in bulk for personal consumption. Under EU guidelines, people can import 300 bottles of beer and 12 bottles of hard liquor from another EU country without paying any tariffs.
Situated only 50 miles away, Estonia already is a popular tourist destination for hundreds of thousands of Finns each year, who shop there for alcohol. Current Finnish duty-free import limits are 40 bottles of beer and one bottle of hard liquor from non-EU countries.
But now that Finland is cutting alcohol prices, some people may be less inclined to travel to Estonia.
"I won't be rushing over to Estonia," said Nina Kontiomaa, 38, buying a bottle of wine at an Alko liquor store in central Helsinki. "Wine prices are OK, but any reduction is good. I don't like the government monopoly."
In a move to compete with the Finnish price cuts and the lifting of import restrictions, shipping lines have announced that they are cutting duty free prices on ferries between Finland and Sweden and on the popular "booze cruises" in the Baltic Sea, another source of cheaper drinks for Finns.
Near Helsinki, Sinebrychoff, the country's largest brewery, was preparing to dispatch 4.2 million pints of beer - twice the usual amount - at midnight Sunday to stores, which aren't allowed to dispense alcohol at the cheaper rate until Monday.
"We've been preparing for this since Jan.1, and will have more than 500 people working, compared to the usual 150," said Pasi Lehtinen, the brewery's logistics manager. "It's going to be some night."
The convoys totaling some 1,000 trucks were expected to continue through the week in this sparsely populated country of 5.2 million on the fringes of northeastern Europe.
On Monday, beer will be about 14 percent cheaper, with a small bottle going for about $1.24. A half-quart bottle of a popular local vodka, Koskenkorva, will be 36 percent cheaper, selling for $11.40 instead of the current $17.80.
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