JOHN R. BROWN, Circuit Judge:
The seizure on the open seas of marijuana being transferred from the freighter Labrador to the Catchalot II caught a lot more than an enormous amount of an illegal substance. Not the least of the catch are the difficult legal issues of statutory construction and double jeopardy which we consider on this rehearing en banc. The panel in this case disagreed with prior decisions concerning these issues, but felt constrained to follow the existing precedent of this Court. We write today to endorse our existing precedent.
The issues we address concern only the consecutive sentences imposed on defendants Rodriguez and Albernaz1 for conspiracy to import marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. §§ 952 & 963, and conspiracy to distribute marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S. C.A. §§ 841 & 846. Those defendants made an agreement to import and distribute the marijuana, an agreement violating two separate and specific narcotics conspiracy statutes. We first decide that Congress intended for both statutes to apply separately and consecutively to such an agreement. That conclusion nets us a sharp-toothed “double jeopardy” shark; but we find that double jeopardy has little bite where but one trial occurred and congressional intent is clear. The defendants’ consecutive sentences under two separate, specific, and narcotics-related conspiracy statutes are affirmed.2
The facts are set out in the panel opinion, 585 F.2d 1234.3 They show that defendants [909]*909Rodriguez and Albernaz were involved in an agreement with the objectives of importing marijuana and then of distributing it domestically. For that agreement, the defendants were charged and convicted under two separate statutory provisions. They received consecutive sentences.4
The statutes involved in this case are parts of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, Pub.L. No.91-513, 84 Stat. 1236 (“Drug Control Act”). Title III of this Act (Subchapter I of Chapter 13 of 21 U.S.C.A.) (entitled “Importation and Exportation”) relates to imports and exports of controlled substances. Among its provisions is 21 U.S.C.A. § 952,5 which defines and prescribes the act of unlawful importation. Title III of the Act (Subchapter II of Chapter 13 of 21 U.S. C.A.) (entitled “Control and Enforcement”) relates to internal prevention and control of drug abuse. Among its provisions is 21 U.S.C.A. § 841,6 which makes it unlawful to distribute controlled substances domestically. Each title of the Act contains its own, identically worded provision prohibiting [910]*910conspiracy to commit any of the offenses described in that title of the Act:
Any person who attempts or conspires to commit any offense defined in this subchapter is punishable by imprisonment or fine or both which may not exceed the maximum punishment prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt or conspiracy.
21 U.S.C.A. §§ 846, 963. Thus, § 963 punishes conspiracy to import marijuana and § 846 punishes conspiracy to distribute marijuana domestically.
The defendants, Rodriguez and Albernaz, made an agreement with the dual objective of importing and then distributing marijuana domestically. Their conspiracy therefore violated both of the conspiracy provisions of the Drug Control Act. They now contend that the criminal conspiracy in which they engaged cannot subject them to the dual, consecutive sentences which they received.
I. Congruous Congress
The first question is one of congressional intent, for “it is necessary, following [the] practice of avoiding constitutional decisions where possible, to determine whether Congress intended to subject the defendant to multiple penalties for the single criminal transaction in which he engaged.” Simpson v. United States, 435 U.S. 6, 12, 98 S.Ct. 909, 913, 55 L.Ed.2d 70, 76 (1977).
In Simpson, the Supreme Court dealt with two statutes, enacted at different times, proscribing the act of robbing a bank by using a firearm. The two armed bank robbers there were convicted in one trial of violating both statutes and assessed consecutive sentences. One statute, 18 U.S.C.A. § 2113(d), was enacted as part of the Bank Robbery Act of 1934, Pub.L.No.235, 48 Stat. 783. That Act set up a “carefully crafted hierarchy of penalties,” 7 adding five years to the maximum penalty for bank robbery if a weapon was used, and increasing the penalty still further if a kidnapping or death occurred during a robbery.8 Since a weapon was used, the robbers received the enhanced penalty set out in the Bank Robbery Act, as codified at 18 U.S.C.A. § 2113(d). The second statute, 18 U.S.C.A. § 924(c), was added by floor amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968, Pub.L.No.90— 618, 82 Stat. 1213. That statute provided for enhanced punishment whenever any felony was committed by use of a firearm.9 Convicted under this statute as well, the robbers received a second sentence to be served consecutively.
In order to determine congressional intent, the Supreme Court decided to apply “several tools of statutory construction [911]*911. . . 435 U.S. at 12, 98 S.Ct. at 913, 55 L.Ed.2d at 76. The Court used four tools of construction. The legislative history was “sparse,” yet it clearly indicated that the felony firearm statute was not intended to apply to the bank robbery statutes.10 “[T]he principle that gives precedence to the terms of the more specific statute where a general statute and a specific statute speak to the same concern . . . ,” id. at 15, 98 S.Ct. at 914, 55 L.Ed.2d at 78, was also invoked. With its hierarchy of penalties and specific focus, the bank robbery statute was found more specific. The specificity principle was viewed as a corollary of a third tool of construction, the rule of lenity. The Court quoted its decision in Ladner v. United States11: “ ‘This policy of lenity means that the Court will not interpret a federal criminal statute so as to increase the penalty that it places on an individual when such an interpretation can be based on no more than a guess as to what Congress intended.’ ” Id. Finally, the Court looked at the conduct of the Government as indicative of the common perception of the statutes, and found that for several years the Department of Justice advised all United States Attorneys not to prosecute under both § 2113(d) and § 924. Id. at 16, 98 S.Ct. at 914, 55 L.Ed.2d at 78.
Simpson’s teaching, therefore, is that the difficult task of divining Congressional intent is to be aided by the use of several tools of statutory construction.12 Simpson does not limit the tools to be used to the four there used.13 Simpson speaks to statutes proscribing substantive acts, not to conspiracy statutes governing acts of thought and agreement. Simpson deals with the interaction between a specific and a general statute, but not with the interaction between two specific statutes. The control of the use of firearms has differed historically and practically from that of narcotics, so again Simpson is not dispositive. Nor does it address the enactment of two statutes as a part of one comprehensive Act, an Act designed to pull together widely scattered and disorganized enactments from years past.14
Before beginning a formal analysis of the construction to be accorded the Drug Control Act, we pause to examine existing jurisprudence bearing upon the conspiracy provisions of that Act, 21 U.S.C.A. §§ 846 & [912]*912963. We perceive two lines of precedent, neither of which obviates the need to examine congressional intent.
The first line begins with Braverman v. United States, 317 U.S. 49, 63 S.Ct. 99, 87 L.Ed. 23 (1942).15 There, seven counts of conspiracy were brought under the general federal conspiracy statute, § 37 of the Criminal Code, 18 U.S.C. § 88 (now codified at 18 U.S.C.A. § 371). Each charged a conspiracy to violate a separate provision of the internal revenue law. Only one conspiratorial agreement, involving a scheme to manufacture, transport, and distribute moonshine, was shown by the evidence. The Court held that one agreement to commit seven different statutory offenses could not be punished by more than a single penalty under the general conspiracy statute:
Since the single continuing agreement, which is the conspiracy here, thus embraces its criminal object, it differs from successive acts which violate a single penal statute and from a single act which violates two statutes.
Id. at 54, 63 S.Ct. at 102, 87 L.Ed. at 28 (emphasis supplied) (citations omitted). Thus Braverman was clearly limited to the statutory construction of the general conspiracy statute.16
In United States v. Mori, 444 F.2d 240 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 913, 92 S.Ct. 238, 30 L.Ed.2d 187 (1971), this Court extended Braverman to a situation involving convictions under the general conspiracy statute and under a specific conspiracy statute, 21 U.S.C.A. § 174. Section 174, now repealed, proscribed conspiracy to import narcotics. The conviction under the general conspiracy statute was somewhat circular, in that it was based on the same substantive crime which was the object of the § 174 conspiracy.17 We held in Mori that under general principles of statutory construction, the specific nature of the importation conspiracy statute precluded additional conviction under the catchall general conspiracy statute. Id. at 245.18 The convictions and concurrent sentences were vacated and the case remanded for imposition of sentence on one count. But cf. United States v. Nathan, 476 F.2d 456, 458-59 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 823, 94 S.Ct. 171, 38 L.Ed.2d 56 (1973) (dual sentences upheld where single conspiracy violated both § 174, proscribing an importation conspiracy, and 18 U.S.C.A. § 371 (the general conspiracy statute), as applied to 26 U.S.C.A. § 4704 (proscribing certain narcotics possession conspiracies)).
[913]*913Without any discussion of congressional intent (or double jeopardy), the Sixth Circuit in United States v. Adcock, 487 F.2d 637 (1973), became the first to consider dual convictions under the specific conspiracy statutes of the Drug Control Act, 21 U.S. C.A. §§ 846 & 963. The Court held that the evidence established only one conspiracy and that the defendants could not be sentenced both for conspiracy to import and conspiracy to distribute. The Court cited only Braverman and Mori in support of its holding, and did not address the fact that these earlier cases dealt with the general conspiracy statute. See United States v. McGowan, 385 F.Supp. 956, 959 n.5 (D.N.J. 1974) (dictum).19
United States v. Honneus, 508 F.2d 566 (1st Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 948, 95 S.Ct. 1677, 44 L.Ed.2d 101 (1975), marks the end of the first line of decisions.20 There, the First Circuit also invoked Braverman and Mori. Three conspiracy convictions were involved: (i) 21 U.S.C.A. § 846 (distribution), (ii) 21 U.S.C.A. § 963 (importation), and (iii) the general conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C.A. § 371 (for conspiring to smuggle “merchandise” in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 545). Congressional intent was only tangentially addressed, as the Court expressed “doubt that [Congress] meant to authorize, or could authorize, a court to impose three punishments for one conspiracy.” Id. at 569 (emphasis supplied). The Court vacated the sentences and remanded for imposition of only one sentence.
Decided four years after Braverman, American Tobacco Co. v. United States, supra, begins the second line of precedent. There, before reaching the central issue, the Supreme Court decided to “touch upon another contention which the petitioners made and which the government has undertaken to answer.” 328 U.S. at 787, 66 S.Ct. at 1128, 90 L.Ed. at 1582. The contention was that Braverman laid down an inflexible prohibition against the criminal conviction of both conspiracy to restrain trade (in violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S. C.A. § 1) and conspiracy to monopolize (in violation of § 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 2), where but one conspiratorial agreement was shown. The Court disagreed, and refused to extend Braverman from its interpretation of the general conspiracy statute to the different statutory scheme of the Sherman Act:
In contrast to the single conspiracy described in [Braverman ] in separate counts, all charged under the general conspiracy statute, § 37, Criminal Code, 35 Stat. 1096, 18 U.S.C. § 88 [now 18 U.S. C.A. § 371], we have here separate statutory offenses, one a conspiracy in restraint of trade . . ., and the other a conspiracy to monopolize •. One is made criminal by § 1 and the other by § 2 of the Sherman Act.
Id. at 788, 66 S.Ct. at 1128, 90 L.Ed. at 1582 (emphasis supplied).21
[914]*914The Ninth Circuit considered the specific conspiracy statutes before us — 21 U.S.C.A. §§ 846 & 963 — in United States v. Marotta, 518 F.2d 681 (1975). The Court upheld the separate sentences involved by resort to two principles of statutory interpretation. First, it looked to the settled intent of Congress for narcotics legislation prior to the Drug Control Act: to severely punish narcotics trafficking by plugging “loopholes” and turning “ ‘the screw of the criminal machinery — detection, prosecution and punishment — tighter and tighter.’ ” Id. at 685 (quoting Gore v. United States, 357 U.S. 386, 390, 78 S.Ct. 1280, 1283, 2 L.Ed.2d 1405, 1408 (1958)). That intent was deemed to have carried over to the enactment of the two specific conspiracy statutes in the Drug Control Act.22 The Court also relied on the existence of two separate, distinct and specific statutes to infer that:
Congress fully intended to permit punishing such conspiracies twice as severely as those which embraced only one of the specified criminal objects. . Congress has in effect determined that a conspiracy to import drugs with intent to distribute is twice as serious as a conspiracy to import for personal use or a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute. .
Id. (citation omitted).23
Endorsing and quoting the Reasoning of the Ninth Circuit in Marotta, this Court upheld separate punishments under §§ 846 and 963 in United States v. Houltin, 525 F.2d 943, 951 (1976), vacated sub nom. Croucher v. United States, 429 U.S. 1034, 97 S.Ct. 725, 50 L.Ed.2d 745 (1977).24 We pointed out that the congressional intent underlying §§ 846 and 963 differed markedly from that underlying the general conspiracy statute:
[The Braverman] holding reflected the Court’s view that the congressional intent underlying [the general conspiracy statute] was to adopt the common law definition of conspiracy, thereby proscribing the agreement to commit unlawful acts [915]*915against the United States rather than the unlawful objects themselves.
Id. at 951 (emphasis in original).25
The Fourth Circuit agreed with our decision in Houltin, stating that:
. in enacting the federal narcotics acts the Congress regarded conspiracy to import heroin and conspiracy to distribute heroin in the United States not only as separate offenses but as offenses so compounding each other that a conspiracy embracing each should be treated as two separate conspiracies, warranting the imposition of successive sentences for violations of the two separate conspiracy statutes.
United States v. Garner, 574 F.2d 1141, 1147, cert. denied, 439 U.S. 936-37, 99 S.Ct. 333, 58 L.Ed.2d 333 (1978). Citing Simpson, the Fourth Circuit observed that “[w]hat is required ... is that each separate conspiracy statute be examined to determine the congressional intent with respect to the possible imposition of successive sentences.” Id. at 1146—47 (emphasis supplied).26
We find the latter line of precedent more persuasive because those cases at least attempted to analyze the particular intent of Congress for the statutes at issue: the two specific conspiracy statutes of the Drug Control Act. We do not dispute that the common law principle that a single conspiracy is a single crime does not have some relevance in construing the congressional intent behind any conspiracy statute, and that in the case of the general conspiracy statute the common law principle may be the most important evidence of congressional intent. But each conspiracy statute, each statutory scheme has its own characteristics. The statutes before us today are especially unique, so we must apply our tools of statutory construction with an eye to the special circumstances surrounding, this country’s narcotics laws and the Drug Control Act.
First is legislative history. The Drug Control Act replaced eighty years of piecemeal attempts by Congress to combat the illegal importation, distribution, and use of narcotics.27 In 1958, the Supreme Court reviewed the legislative history of those narcotics enactments in Gore v. United States, 357 U.S. 386, 388-93, 78 S.Ct. 1280, 1282-84, 2 L.Ed.2d 1405, 1407-10. There the defendant was convicted and consecutively sentenced under three statutes- — enacted at different times — for a single sale of narcotics. The Court pointed out that it had considered a number of cases involving [916]*916“prosecutions under successive enactments dealing with the control of narcotics,” and it “was not an innocent in the history of narcotics legislation.” Id. at 388, 78 S.Ct. at 1282, 2 L.Ed.2d at 1408. Drawing on this experience, the Court concluded that:
the various enactments by Congress extending over nearly half a century constitute a network of provisions, steadily tightened and enlarged, for grappling with a powerful, subtle and elusive enemy. If the legislation reveals anything, it reveals the determination of Congress to turn the screw of the criminal ' machinery — detection, prosecution and punishment — tighter and tighter.
Id. at 390, 78 S.Ct. at 1283, 2 L.Ed.2d at 1408. The three sentences were affirmed.
Congress’s desire to severely punish those involved with narcotics did not abate after Gore. See, e. g., The Narcotics Manufacturing Act of 1960, Pub.L. No. 86 — 429, 74 Stat. '55; H.R. No. 1486, 89th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1966), reprinted in [1966] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 4245, 4249-50 (legislative history of law creating civil commitment for addicts). The President’s Advisory Commission on . Narcotics and Drug Abuse, in a report which precipitated the drafting of the Drug Control Act, stated:
The illegal traffic in drugs should be attacked with the full power of the Federal Government. The price for participation in this traffic should be prohibitive. It should be made too dangerous to be attractive.
House Report, supra, [1970] U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News at 4575. See also Note, 1978 B.Y.U.L.Rev. 179.
Against this background of increasingly punitive nárcotics legislation, the President proposed on July 14, 1969, a comprehensive Act “providing increased law enforcement authority in the field of drug abuse. . . ” House Report, supra, [1970] U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News at 4567. The proposed legislation had eight sections, denominated titles.28 Proposed § 501(a) of Title V (“Offenses and Penalties”) proscribed distributing, manufacturing, possessing, importing, and exporting of various controlled substances. A single subsection, § 501(c), penalized any substantive act violating § 501(a). Thus the punishment for the substantive act of importing and distributing controlled substances was set out in a single provision of the proposed legislation. Similarly, § 504 made unlawful any conspiracy to “commit any offense defined in this title.” Thus a conspiracy to import and distribute controlled substances was proscribed by a single provision, § 504, and punished by another, § 501(c).29
In order to conform to the existing jurisdictional lines between the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, the proposed legislation was split and separately considered by the two House committees. The Ways and Means Committee took jurisdiction over matters relating to import and export of narcotics, and that portion of the legislation was then transmitted to the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, which recombined the legislation. House Report, supra at 2-3, [1970] U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News at 4567-68. The committees’ product, except for minor amendment on the floor of the House, was enacted unchanged as the Drug Control Act.
Appellants contend that the existence of two separate and specific conspiracy statutes in the Drug Control Act is the result of the separation of the legislation between the two House committees. Thus they argue that no weight should be accorded the [917]*917fact that two provisions exist. They correctly point out that the House Report gives no indication of the intent behind the enactment of two conspiracy provisions. Therefore they claim that the legislative history of the provisions is inconclusive. We disagree. As in Simpson, we find the legislative history sparse but sure.
First, this was carefully drafted legislation. The enacted legislation evidences a great deal of coordination between the two committees. Titles II and III of the Drug Control Act contain numerous interrelated provisions. E. g., 21 U.S.C.A. §§ 812, 848, 849, 951, 962 & 965. See United States v. Gomez-Tostado, 597 F.2d 170 (9th Cir. 1978) (interaction between the titles). Both titles have parallel penalty structures, imposing similar penalties on similar crimes. Compare 21 U.S.C.A. § 841(b)(1)(A) with 21 U.S.C.A. § 960(b)(1). This similarity is significant because the penalties are different from those proposed by the President and transmitted to the committees. Compare 21 U.S.C.A. §§ 841(b), 960(d) with § 501(c)(1) of the proposed legislation.30
Also indicative of the nonaccidental nature of the two specific conspiracy provisions are the remarks by the sponsor of Title III. Immediately after his introduction of the legislation on the floor of the House, Representative Boggs was permitted to propose several perfecting amendments, which were passed. In proposing the amendments, Representative Boggs stated:
Only the last amendment has any substantive effect. This last amendment provides that section 1013 [now 21 U.S. C.A. § 963] — relating to attempts and conspiracies — and section 1015 [now 21 USCA § 965] — relating to the applicability of title II enforcement and administrative provisions — will take effect at the same time as the comparable provisions of title II.
116 Cong.Rec. 33665 (1970). While these remarks are less probative of a congressional judgment than those in Simpson, see note 10, supra, and although they “are of course not dispositive of the issue . . . , they are certainly entitled to weight, coming as they do from the provision’s sponsor.” Simpson, supra, 435 U.S. at 13, 98 S.Ct. at 913, 55 L.Ed.2d at 77.
Finding a congressional judgment to permit consecutive punishments under the dual conspiracy statutes is also consistent with the deterrent rationale and the legislative history of other provisions of the Drug Control Act. It is clear that Congress intended the substantive act of importation and distribution of controlled substances' to be cumulatively punished, in the discretion of the sentencing judge. United States v. Dubrofsky, 581 F.2d 208, 213-14 & n.2 (9th Cir. 1978); United States v. Valot, 481 F.2d 22, 27-28 (2d Cir. 1973). Cf. United States v. Hernandez, 591 F.2d 1019, 1022 & n.9 & 10 (5th Cir. 1979). And like racketeering, see Callanan v. United States, 364 U.S. 587, 81 S.Ct. 321, 5 L.Ed.2d 312 (1961), or gambling, see Iannelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 95 S.Ct. 1284, 43 L.Ed.2d 616 (1975), the danger to society of a conspiracy to commit a specified narcotics offense or offenses is at least as great as the actual offense: Narcotics abuse is “a social evil as deleterious as it is difficult to combat . . . ,” Gore v. United States, supra, 357 U.S. at 389, 78 S.Ct. at 1283, 2 L.Ed.2d at 1408 (emphasis supplied). Against such a difficult foe, cumulative penalties for a conspiracy with dual objectives is consistent with the Drug Control Act’s cumulation of substantive penalties. It is not surprising that Congress intended to allow the District Courts a wide measure of discretion to punish a conspiracy involving such dual objectives, in an appropriate case, by means of consecutive sentences. Cf. Pot Full of Discretion: Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, 34 Tex.B.J. 497 (1971).
[918]*918Besides legislative history, the application of other tools of statutory construction support our finding that “Congress has in effect determined that a conspiracy to import drugs [and to distribute them] is twice as serious as a conspiracy [to do either object singly],” United States v. Marotta, supra, 518 F.2d at 685. As the related principle to that of giving precedence to the specific statute over the general, the existence of two specific provisions within the same comprehensive Act of Congress is a useful tool of statutory construction. As “Congress is predominantly a lawyers’ body,” Callanan v. United States, supra, 364 U.S. at 594, 81 S.Ct. at 325, 5 L.Ed.2d at 317, we may attribute to Congress the intent to permit cumulative punishment where separate and specific statutes are involved. Cf. Gore v. United States, supra. Moreover, the state of the law of conspiracy at the time of the Drug Control Act’s passage certainly gave fair warning that separate specific conspiracy statutes would permit the cumulative punishment of a single conspiracy. See American Tobacco Co. v. United States, supra; Anderson, Wharton’s Criminal Law and Procedure § 83 (1957). Cf. United States v. James, 161 U.S.App.D.C. 88, 104-05, 494 F.2d 1007, 1025-26 (D.C. Cir.) (cumulative sentences upheld for a single conspiracy violating three separate specific conspiracy statutes of the pre-1970 narcotics law), cert. denied sub nom., Jackson v. United States, 419 U.S. 1020, 95 S.Ct. 495, 42 L.Ed.2d 294 (1974).
“Lenity” is another tool of statutory construction. Like the many Courts which have considered narcotics statutes, see supra, at 914—915, United States v. Valot, supra, 481 F.2d at 27 & n.3, and in accord with the express intent of Congress in the enactment of the Drug Control Act, see supra, at 916-917, we question the application of a principle of lenity when Congress has plainly intended severity. Although lenity is a principle, the common meaning of the word suggests “being lenient,” “mildness,” as opposed to “severity.” Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary 481 (1961 ed.). Moreover, in Gore v. United States, supra, the Súpreme Court contemplated the principle of lenity in the context of the narcotics laws. It concluded:
This situation is toto coelo different from the one that led to our decision in Bell v. United States, 349 U.S. 81 [75 S.Ct. 620, 99 L.Ed. 905]. That case involved application of the Mann Act — a single provision making it a crime to transport a woman in interstate commerce for purposes of prostitution. We held that the transportation of more than one woman as a single transaction is to be dealt with as a single offense, for the reason that when Congress has not explicitly stated what the unit of offense is, the doubt will be judicially resolved in favor of lenity. It is one thing for a single transaction to include several units relating to proscribed conduct under a single provision of a statute. It is a wholly different thing to evolve a rule of lenity for three violations of three separate offenses created by Congress at three different times, all to the end of dealing more and more strictly with, and seeking to throttle more and more by different legal devices, the traffic in narcotics. Both in the unfolding of the substantive provisions of law and in the scale of punishments, Congress has manifested an attitude not of lenity but of severity toward violation of the narcotics laws.
357 U.S. at 391, 78 S.Ct. at 1283, 2 L.Ed.2d at 1409. Where separate and specific provisions of the narcotics law are involved, we adhere to Gore’s view that Congress intended not leniency but rather cumulative penalties.31
[919]*919The Blockburger32 test is another tool of statutory construction. “The Blockburger test has its primary relevance in the double jeopardy context,” Simpson, supra, 435 U.S. at 11, 98 S.Ct. at 912, 55 L.Ed.2d at 76, but the test itself derives from a decision involving statutory interpretation.33 As a tool of statutory interpretation — as opposed to a double jeopardy test — the Blockburger test is perhaps less useful than some because it so easily indicates that Congress intended cumulative punishment.34 Where a comprehensive Act of Congress is involved, however, this criticism has less force and the Blockburger test is more probative of intent.
Blockburger sets out the technical requirement that each of the two statutory provisions require proof of a fact which the other does not:
Each of the offenses created requires proof of a different element. The applicable rule is that where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not.
284 U.S. at 304, 52 S.Ct. at 182, 76 L.Ed. at 309. In United States v. Cowart, 595 F.2d 1023 (1979), this Court interpreted the Blockburger test to focus on the elements of the offense charged, not on the evidence adduced at trial. See also United States v. Nelson, 599 F.2d 714, 716-17 (5th Cir. 1979); United States v. Bankston, 603 F.2d 528, 534 (5th Cir. 1979). At least for purposes of statutory interpretation and where multiple trials are not at issue, we endorse Cowart’s interpretation of the Blockburger test.35
It is therefore irrelevant that much of the proof at trial was directed towards both of the conspiracy counts. Appellants’ argument36 that the same overt acts were alleged in each conspiracy count is equally irrelevant to the Blockburger test in this situation.37 Instead, only the ele[920]*920ments set out in the two conspiracy statutes, 21 U.S.C.A. §§ 846 & 963, must be closely compared. It is obvious that each statute requires proof of a common element, the agreement. It is equally obvious that thereafter commonality ends; each requires proof of a different objective of the agreement, one to import, the other to distribute. This is true even though the objects of the agreement may partially overlap. Cf. American Tobacco Co. v. United States, supra, 328 U.S. at 788, 66 S.Ct. at 1128, 90 L.Ed. at 1582. The Blockburger test therefore shows the conspiracy statutes to create separate offenses. As a tool of statutory construction, Blockburger supports an intent by Congress to cumulatively punish a conspiracy with the dual objectives of importation and distribution of controlled substances.
A number of tools of statutory construction thus lead us to construe sections 846 and 963 to authorize, in the proper case, the imposition of consecutive sentences where a conspiracy with dual objectives is involved. As a result the issue before us broadens and takes on constitutional dimensions.
II. Double Jeopardy’s Jaws38
The issue which we now must confront is whether the simultaneous trial and subsequent imposition of consecutive sentences for conspiring to achieve different illegal objectives violates the Double Jeopardy Clause. We find that where Congress intended to permit the District Court, in the careful exercise of its discretion, to impose consecutive sentences, convicting and sentencing a defendant in one proceeding to cumulative punishments does not put the defendant twice in jeopardy. While there are certain prohibitions flowing from other parts of the Constitution, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not protect such a defendant.39
We emphasize that the case before us does not involve a number of related but different double jeopardy problems. First, this is not a case where a defendant is tried and sentenced under one statute, serves part or all of that sentence, and then is indicted for the same act under a similar statute. There, the defendant is subjected to the anxiety of not knowing when his punishment will finally end; nor can the sentencing forum ascertain, at any one sentencing, the extent to which the defendant will be punished. Second, this case does not involve retrial following acquittal, which subjects the defendant to “continuing distress” and prevents him from considering the matter closed and planning ahead accordingly. Note, Twice in Jeopardy, supra at 277. Nor do we face the imposition of cumulative punishments that Congress either did not intend nor authorize.40 Instead we address the simultaneous trial and imposition of consecutive sentences where Congress intended, through the enactment of specific provisions in the same piece of legislation, to permit the imposition of longer, consecutive sentences where the sentencing forum deemed it appropriate.
An examination of the interests underlying the Double Jeopardy Clause re[921]*921veals that its core concern is to protect against subsequent punishment once one has been endured and against subsequent prosecution following acquittal, with some narrow exceptions.41 The Clause derives from the early English pleas of autrefois acquit, autrefois attaint, and autrefois convict.42 Green v. United States, supra, 355 U.S. at 187-88, 78 S.Ct. at 223, 2 L.Ed.2d at 204, reviewed the history of the Clause and concluded:
The constitutional prohibition against “double jeopardy” was designed to protect an individual from being subjected to the hazards of trial and possible conviction more than once for an alleged offense. . . . The underlying idea, one that is deeply engrained in at least the Anglo-American system of jurisprudence, is that the State with all its resources and power should not be allowed to make repeated attempts to convict an individual for an alleged offense, thereby subjecting him to embarrassment, expense and ordeal and compelling him to live in a continuing state of anxiety and insecurity, as well as enhancing the possibility that even though innocent he may be found guilty.
Id. at 187-88, 78 S.Ct. at 223, 2 L.Ed.2d at 204. As articulated by Green, the basic interests protected are those of repose and finality.
Although the Supreme Court has yet to squarely consider the Clause’s application to cumulative punishments in a single proceeding,43 it has construed the Clause in a number of recent decisions, some of them relevant to the issue we confront.
The issue in North Carolina v. Pearce, supra, was whether a defendant who had been convicted and sentenced, who then served part of that sentence before successfully attacking his first conviction, and who was convicted again, could be given upon resentencing a longer sentence than originally imposed. The case obviously involved the imposition of a second sentence after the first, and presumably final, sentence had been partially served. The defendant’s interests in repose and finality were therefore directly at issue. But the defendant, not the Government, sought the appeal which vacated his original sentence, and thus the defendant in a sense waived his interests in repose and finality. The Court found that the defendant did not “waive” his interests to the extent that he expected his appeal to not result in any loss of time already served under the original sentence. Balancing those interests against those of the Government, the Court held that (i) [922]*922double jeopardy does not preclude imposing a more severe sentence on reconviction but that (ii) it does require that the punishment already endured be subtracted from any new sentence imposed.44
A year later, Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 446, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 1195, 25 L.Ed.2d 469, 477 (1970), decided “not whether [the defendant] could have received a total of six punishments if he had been convicted in a single trial of robbing ... six victims.” Rather the Double Jeopardy Clause was found to incorporate a rule of collateral estoppel which prevented the State from relitigating an issue which was necessarily determined in a prior trial. Thus the Court did not go so far as to require the joinder of all related prosecutions in one proceeding; but the Court did provide a greater degree of protection to the defendant than Blockburger’s “same evidence” test (in its constitutional context) would have. See id. at 448-60, 90 S.Ct. at 1196-02, 25 L.Ed.2d at 478-84 (Brennan, J., concurring). Ashe therefore reemphasized that the core concern of the Double Jeopardy Clause is to fully protect a defendant who has been once acquitted or partially punished under a similar statute for the same act, thus protecting the interests of repose and finality.
Iannelli v. United States, supra, was a relatively narrow decision concerning the scope of Wharton’s Rule. There, in one proceeding, the defendants were convicted and cumulatively sentenced for running an illegal gambling business in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1955 and of conspiracy (under the general conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C.A. § 371) to run such a business. Double jeopardy was at issue by way of the argument that Wharton’s Rule prohibited such dual convictions and that the Rule was a part of the protection afforded by the Double Jeopardy Clause. The Court found that the Rule did not rest on principles of double jeopardy, 420 U.S. at 782, 95 S.Ct. at 1292, 43 L.Ed.2d at 625, but instead was a tool of statutory construction. The Court then examined the legislative intent, which was found to permit imposition of cumulative sentences. In a long footnote which proved the font of later confusion, Blockburger was described solely as a tool of statutory construction, although the Court then proceeded to apply the test and find the offenses separate. Id. at 785 n. 17, 95 S.Ct. at 1293 n. 17, 43 L.Ed.2d at 627 n. 17. Iannelli therefore seemingly limited Blockburger and implied that legislative intent was the sole determinant of whether cumulative punishments were permitted, at least in a single proceeding.
Two years later, the Court sought to further clarify Iannelli. In Jeffers v. United States, 432 U.S. 137, 97 S.Ct. 2207, 53 L.Ed.2d 168 (1977)45 the Court affirmed in part and vacated in part the judgment of the Court of Appeals, which had relied upon Iannelli. Defendant Jeffers had originally been indicted for conspiracy to distribute narcotics, in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 846, and for the greater offense of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise to violate the narcotics laws, in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 848. Jeffers opposed the Government’s efforts to try the two charges in one proceeding. Consequently, he was tried first for § 846 conspiracy, and after conviction was brought to trial on the § 848 charges, which resulted in a second conviction. The punishments were .made consecutive: (i) for § 846, 15 years in prison, a special parole term, and a $25,000 fine; (ii) for § 848, life imprisonment and a $100,000 fine. The defendant appealed, contending that his § 848 [923]*923conviction and sentence violated the Double Jeopardy Clause.
The Supreme Court first dealt with the defendant’s claim that a second prosecution was improper. In contrast to the Court of Appeal’s holding that legislative intent controlled the reprosecution issue, the Supreme Court held that Blockburger, in its constitutional context, should be used. The Supreme Court found the offenses to be the “same” under that test, but nevertheless upheld the separate prosecutions because the defendant had essentially waived his rights by opposing the Government’s attempts to consolidate the charges.46
Having resolved the reprosecution issue, the Court was left with the problem of the cumulative punishments which the defendant received. This was a problem similar to the one before us today — whether double jeopardy precludes cumulative punishment where a defendant is tried under two separate statutes in one proceeding.47 Jeffers treated this problem as one entirely separate from the more central reprosecution issue. In resolving the problem of cumulative punishment, Jeffers unmistakenly looked only to congressional intent:
The critical inquiry is whether Congress intended to punish each statutory violation separately. ... In Iannel-li v. United States, the Court concluded that Congress did intend to punish violations of § 1955 separately from § 371 conspiracy violations. Since the two offenses were different, there was no need to go further. ... If some possibility exists that two statutory offenses are the “same offense” for double jeopardy purposes, however, it is necessary to examine the problem closely, in order to avoid constitutional multiple punishment difficulties. See North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. at 717 [89 S.Ct. at 2076]; United States v. Wilson, 420 U.S. [332] at 343 [95 S.Ct. 1013 at 1021, 43 L.Ed.2d 232].
432 U.S. at 155, 97 S.Ct. 2218, 53 L.Ed.2d at 183 (citations and footnote omitted) (emphasis supplied).48
The meaning of the above quoted passage is indicated by the fact that immediately thereafter the opinion proceeded to analyze the words of the two statutes and their legislative history. The intent of Congress was the “critical inquiry.” Jeffers concluded that Congress had not intended to allow cumulative imposition of the $25,000 and $100,000 fines.49 Consequently the Court ordered that the fine assessed not exceed $100,000, although the prison sentences were affirmed.
Jeffers therefore teaches that the analysis of reprosecution following conviction on similar charges or following acquittal 50 is entirely separate from that of [924]*924cumulative punishments, rendered in a single proceeding. The cumulative punishment issue requires an analysis of legislative intent — albeit an intent found lacking in Jeffers. The principle is therefore that the Double Jeopardy Clause requires only that courts punish within the limits that Congress intended. Cumulative punishment, when imposed in one proceeding (or in separate proceedings as the result of a defendant’s desire to have the proceedings separate), is proper so long as Congress intended to permit such cumulative punishment.
As further support for this interpretation, we borrow an argument from Gore v. United States, supra, 357 U.S. at 392-93, 78 S.Ct. at 1284-85, 2 L.Ed.2d at 1410-11, where the Court upheld three cumulative sentences imposed for a single sale of narcotics. The argument, as adapted, asks us to suppose that Congress, instead of enacting 21 U.S.C.A. §§ 846 & 963, enacted the following:
Any person who enters into a conspiracy to both import and to distribute marijuana is punishable by a term of imprisonment of not more than 10 years, a fine of not more than $30,000, or both: Provided, however, That if he conspires only to import marijuana he is only punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 5. years, a fine of not more than $15,000, or both: Provided, however, That if he conspires only to distribute marijuana he is only punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 5 years, a fine of not more than $15,000, or both.
As Gore held, there clearly would be no double jeopardy problem were the defendants sentenced under such a statute. Yet it has been shown that such a statute was what Congress intended to effect in enacting the two specific conspiracy statutes contained in the Drug Control Act. See United States v. Marotta, supra.
Appellants argue, however, that more than congressional intent is involved; that the Blockburger test must be applied even where reprosecution is not at issue. They, like the panel, 585 F.2d at 1248—19, rely on Braverman for the proposition that a single conspiracy with dual objectives is but one offense, which Congress cannot further fragment. But as cogently observed by Westen and Drubel, supra note 39, at 11—15:
[T]his thesis assumes that “same offense” has substantive content that is independent of domestic law as defined by the legislature, [thus demanding] more of the Double Jeopardy Clause than it is capable of supplying.
. [T]he argument assumes that the Double Jeopardy Clause is capable of reducing the concept of a criminal offense to its smallest rational unit, or atom, beyond which further fragmentation cannot occur without creating a “doubling effect.”
* * * * * *
. The flaw . . . is to assume that there is an objective basis for determining the maximum number of statutory offenses implicit in a single course of conduct. There is simply no way to make sense out of the notion that a course of conduct is “really” only one act.
In deference to this observation, we feel that the Supreme Court in action as well as words51 has recognized that the Double Jeopardy Clause imposes no limits on Congress’s power to define the allowable unit of prosecution and punishment, at least so long as all charges are brought in a single proceeding. This is not to say that Congress could so fragment a conspiracy that the aggregate punishment becomes cruel and unusual, but protection from that action derives from the Eighth Amendment, not the Double Jeopardy Clause. See United States v. Marotta, supra at 685.
Nor would the Blockburger test afford protection if applied to the conspiracy statutes here. For, as indicated, supra at 919, each statute requires an element that the [925]*925other does not. We look to the elements of the statute, not the evidence adduced at trial. United States v. Cowart, supra. The difference in the objectives of the conspiracy would in any event satisfy the Blockburger test.52
We conclude with a cautionary admonition. First, our holding that double jeopardy is not offended by these conspiracy charges brought in a single proceeding does not extend to the multiple prosecution area, and the Government would be well-advised to bring all of its charges (relating to a single conspiracy) in a single proceeding. Cf. Ashe v. Swenson, supra. Second, we caution the District Courts that our holding does not require the imposition of consecutive sentences but rather only permits such imposition, within the sound discretion of the sentencing forum.53
The result of our decision today is to alter the panel’s reasoning while reaffirming its disposition of the convictions and sentences of the four defendants. Thus we let stand the panel’s reversal of the convictions of Smigowski and Martins with respect to Count II and the affirmance with respect to Count I. The convictions and sentences under both counts of Rodriguez and Alber-naz are affirmed. As did the panel we direct that the case be remanded with instructions to dismiss the Count II convictions of Smigowski and Martins.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART and REMANDED.