diff --git a/cgosqlite/cgosqlite.go b/cgosqlite/cgosqlite.go
index eff9a12..04a1f14 100644
--- a/cgosqlite/cgosqlite.go
+++ b/cgosqlite/cgosqlite.go
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ package cgosqlite
 import "C"
 import (
 	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 	"unsafe"
 
@@ -61,6 +62,20 @@ import (
 // avoid the need to allocate new storage in each invocation.
 var emptyChar [1]C.char
 
+var alwaysCopyBlob atomic.Bool
+
+// SetAlwaysCopyBlob sets whether [Stmt.ColumnBlob] should copy the blob data
+// instead of returning a slice that aliases SQLite's internal memory. This is
+// safe to call at runtime; the setting will apply to subsequent calls to
+// [Stmt.ColumnBlob].
+//
+// This was added to help detect misuse of [sql.RawBytes] where we might be
+// modifying data internal to SQLite, retaining it after it's no longer valid,
+// and so on.
+func SetAlwaysCopyBlob(copy bool) {
+	alwaysCopyBlob.Store(copy)
+}
+
 func init() {
 	C.sqlite3_initialize()
 }
@@ -368,7 +383,11 @@ func (stmt *Stmt) ColumnBlob(col int) []byte {
 		return nil
 	}
 	n := int(C.sqlite3_column_bytes(stmt.stmt, C.int(col)))
-	return unsafe.Slice((*byte)(unsafe.Pointer(res)), n)
+	slice := unsafe.Slice((*byte)(unsafe.Pointer(res)), n)
+	if alwaysCopyBlob.Load() {
+		return append([]byte(nil), slice...)
+	}
+	return slice
 }
 
 func (stmt *Stmt) ColumnDouble(col int) float64 {
diff --git a/cgosqlite/cgosqlite_test.go b/cgosqlite/cgosqlite_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b4f94f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cgosqlite/cgosqlite_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+package cgosqlite
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/tailscale/sqlite/sqliteh"
+)
+
+func TestColumnBlob(t *testing.T) {
+	// Run the test with and without the SetAlwaysCopyBlob flag enabled.
+	cases := []struct {
+		name string
+		flag bool
+	}{
+		{"off", false},
+		{"on", true},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range cases {
+		t.Run("SetAlwaysCopyBlob="+tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			SetAlwaysCopyBlob(tt.flag)
+
+			// Open a test database
+			db, err := Open(filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "test.db"), sqliteh.OpenFlagsDefault, "")
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			defer db.Close()
+
+			mustRun := func(sql string) {
+				t.Helper()
+				stmt, _, err := db.Prepare(sql, 0)
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Fatalf("Prepare %q: %v", sql, err)
+				}
+				if _, err := stmt.Step(nil); err != nil {
+					t.Fatalf("Step: %v", err)
+				}
+				if err := stmt.Finalize(); err != nil {
+					t.Fatalf("Finalize: %v", err)
+				}
+			}
+
+			mustRun("CREATE TABLE t (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, data BLOB)")
+			mustRun(`INSERT INTO t (id, data) VALUES (1, 'HELLOHELLOHELLOHELLOHELLOHELLO99')`)
+			mustRun(`INSERT INTO t (id, data) VALUES (2, '')`)
+			mustRun(`INSERT INTO t (id, data) VALUES (3, NULL)`)
+
+			// queryRow runs the given query and returns the *Stmt for the first row.
+			queryRow := func(t *testing.T, sql string) sqliteh.Stmt {
+				t.Helper()
+				stmt, _, err := db.Prepare(sql, 0)
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				t.Cleanup(func() {
+					stmt.Finalize()
+				})
+				row, err := stmt.Step(nil)
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				if !row {
+					t.Fatal("expected a row")
+				}
+				return stmt
+			}
+
+			t.Run("WithData", func(t *testing.T) {
+				stmt := queryRow(t, "SELECT data FROM t WHERE id = 1")
+				data := stmt.ColumnBlob(0)
+
+				const want = "HELLOHELLOHELLOHELLOHELLOHELLO99"
+				if !bytes.Equal(data, []byte(want)) {
+					t.Fatalf("got %q, want %q", data, want)
+				}
+			})
+
+			t.Run("EmptyBlob", func(t *testing.T) {
+				stmt := queryRow(t, "SELECT data FROM t WHERE id = 2")
+				data := stmt.ColumnBlob(0)
+				if len(data) != 0 {
+					t.Fatalf("got %d bytes, want 0 bytes", len(data))
+				}
+
+				// NOTE: it appears that this returns a nil
+				// slice, not a non-nil empty slice; both are
+				// valid representations of an empty blob, so
+				// we're not going to assert on which we get.
+			})
+
+			t.Run("NullBlob", func(t *testing.T) {
+				stmt := queryRow(t, "SELECT data FROM t WHERE id = 3")
+				data := stmt.ColumnBlob(0)
+				if data != nil {
+					t.Fatalf("got %q, want nil", data)
+				}
+			})
+		})
+	}
+}