Attempt and Conspiracy—21 U.S.C. § 846; 963

Section 846 of Title 21 prohibits conspiracies and attempts to violate any substantive offense established by Subchapter

I

of Title 21 ("Control and Enforcement")—in other words, Section 846 makes it a crime to conspire to violate or attempt to violate any substantive offense set forth in 21 U.S.C. §§ 801-904. Analogously, Section 963 of Title 21 prohibits conspiracies and attempts to violate any substantive offense established by Subchapter

II

of Title 21 ("Import and Export")—in other words, Section 963 makes it a crime to conspire to violate or attempt to violate any substantive offense set forth in 21 U.S.C. §§ 951-971.

The general conspiracy statute (18 U.S.C. § 371) may not be used to charge a conspiracy involving those sections.

See

Principles of Federal Prosecution,

JM 9-27.300

("Once the decision to prosecute has been made, the attorney for the government should charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offenses.").

[updated January 2020]