diff --git a/connectionpool.go b/connectionpool.go
index 4dd59669b..803443a03 100644
--- a/connectionpool.go
+++ b/connectionpool.go
@@ -459,7 +459,7 @@ func (pool *hostConnPool) logConnectErr(err error) {
 	if opErr, ok := err.(*net.OpError); ok && (opErr.Op == "dial" || opErr.Op == "read") {
 		// connection refused
 		// these are typical during a node outage so avoid log spam.
-		if debug {
+		if gocqlDebug {
 			log.Printf("unable to dial %q: %v\n", pool.host.Peer(), err)
 		}
 	} else if err != nil {
diff --git a/control.go b/control.go
index 5ba083911..85267064e 100644
--- a/control.go
+++ b/control.go
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ func (c *controlConn) query(statement string, values ...interface{}) (iter *Iter
 			return conn.executeQuery(q)
 		})
 
-		if debug && iter.err != nil {
+		if gocqlDebug && iter.err != nil {
 			log.Printf("control: error executing %q: %v\n", statement, iter.err)
 		}
 
diff --git a/debug_off.go b/debug_off.go
index 70e2a2e3d..3af3ae0f3 100644
--- a/debug_off.go
+++ b/debug_off.go
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 
 package gocql
 
-const debug = false
+const gocqlDebug = false
diff --git a/debug_on.go b/debug_on.go
index 83e757bef..e94a00ce5 100644
--- a/debug_on.go
+++ b/debug_on.go
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 
 package gocql
 
-const debug = true
+const gocqlDebug = true
diff --git a/events.go b/events.go
index ab0f29922..4dcb8dcdd 100644
--- a/events.go
+++ b/events.go
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ func (s *Session) handleEvent(framer *framer) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	if debug {
+	if gocqlDebug {
 		log.Printf("gocql: handling frame: %v\n", frame)
 	}
 
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ func (s *Session) handleNodeEvent(frames []frame) {
 	}
 
 	for _, f := range events {
-		if debug {
+		if gocqlDebug {
 			log.Printf("gocql: dispatching event: %+v\n", f)
 		}