diff --git a/cmds/statsd/Android.mk b/cmds/statsd/Android.mk
index 091268e15ad47..5268ba2e9012e 100644
--- a/cmds/statsd/Android.mk
+++ b/cmds/statsd/Android.mk
@@ -141,10 +141,14 @@ LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES := $(statsd_common_shared_libraries) \
 
 LOCAL_MODULE_CLASS := EXECUTABLES
 
-# Enable sanitizer and allow very verbose printing on eng builds
+# Enable sanitizer ONLY on eng builds.
 ifeq ($(TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT),eng)
     LOCAL_CLANG := true
     LOCAL_SANITIZE := address
+endif
+
+# Add a flag to enable stats log printing from statsd on debug builds.
+ifneq (,$(filter userdebug eng, $(TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT)))
     LOCAL_CFLAGS += \
         -DVERY_VERBOSE_PRINTING
 endif