diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 16f8c1fb2ec..ee328a10e15 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ The stress tool `influx_stress` will be removed in a subsequent release. We reco
 - [#7563](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/issues/7563): RP should not allow `INF` or `0` as a shard duration.
 - [#7585](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/pull/7585): Return Error instead of panic when decoding point values.
 - [#7812](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/issues/7812): Fix slice out of bounds panic when pruning shard groups. Thanks @vladlopes
+- [#7822](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/issues/7822): Drop database will delete /influxdb/data directory
 
 ## v1.1.1 [2016-12-06]
 
diff --git a/coordinator/statement_executor.go b/coordinator/statement_executor.go
index 20676e80b83..4d0f54a3699 100644
--- a/coordinator/statement_executor.go
+++ b/coordinator/statement_executor.go
@@ -305,6 +305,10 @@ func (e *StatementExecutor) executeDropContinuousQueryStatement(q *influxql.Drop
 // It does not return an error if the database was not found on any of
 // the nodes, or in the Meta store.
 func (e *StatementExecutor) executeDropDatabaseStatement(stmt *influxql.DropDatabaseStatement) error {
+	if e.MetaClient.Database(stmt.Name) == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	// Locally delete the datababse.
 	if err := e.TSDBStore.DeleteDatabase(stmt.Name); err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -348,6 +352,16 @@ func (e *StatementExecutor) executeDropShardStatement(stmt *influxql.DropShardSt
 }
 
 func (e *StatementExecutor) executeDropRetentionPolicyStatement(stmt *influxql.DropRetentionPolicyStatement) error {
+
+	dbi := e.MetaClient.Database(stmt.Database)
+	if dbi == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	if dbi.RetentionPolicy(stmt.Name) == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	// Locally drop the retention policy.
 	if err := e.TSDBStore.DeleteRetentionPolicy(stmt.Database, stmt.Name); err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/tsdb/store.go b/tsdb/store.go
index 267ca51b414..9f4e1a31a24 100644
--- a/tsdb/store.go
+++ b/tsdb/store.go
@@ -387,6 +387,11 @@ func (s *Store) DeleteShard(shardID uint64) error {
 // DeleteDatabase will close all shards associated with a database and remove the directory and files from disk.
 func (s *Store) DeleteDatabase(name string) error {
 	s.mu.RLock()
+	if s.databaseIndexes[name] == nil {
+		s.mu.RUnlock()
+		// no files locally, so nothing to do
+		return nil
+	}
 	shards := s.filterShards(func(sh *Shard) bool {
 		return sh.database == name
 	})
@@ -402,7 +407,15 @@ func (s *Store) DeleteDatabase(name string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	if err := os.RemoveAll(filepath.Join(s.path, name)); err != nil {
+	dbPath := filepath.Clean(filepath.Join(s.path, name))
+
+	// extra sanity check to make sure that even if someone named their database "../.."
+	// that we don't delete everything because of it, they'll just have extra files forever
+	if filepath.Clean(s.path) != filepath.Dir(dbPath) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid database directory location for database '%s': %s", name, dbPath)
+	}
+
+	if err := os.RemoveAll(dbPath); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	if err := os.RemoveAll(filepath.Join(s.EngineOptions.Config.WALDir, name)); err != nil {
@@ -424,6 +437,10 @@ func (s *Store) DeleteDatabase(name string) error {
 // both the DB and WAL, and remove all shard files from disk.
 func (s *Store) DeleteRetentionPolicy(database, name string) error {
 	s.mu.RLock()
+	if s.databaseIndexes[database] == nil {
+		// unknown database, nothing to do
+		return nil
+	}
 	shards := s.filterShards(func(sh *Shard) bool {
 		return sh.database == database && sh.retentionPolicy == name
 	})
@@ -441,6 +458,13 @@ func (s *Store) DeleteRetentionPolicy(database, name string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	rpPath := filepath.Clean(filepath.Join(s.path, database, name))
+
+	// ensure Store's path is the grandparent of the retention policy
+	if filepath.Clean(s.path) != filepath.Dir(filepath.Dir(rpPath)) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid path for database '%s', retention policy '%s': %s", database, name, rpPath)
+	}
+
 	// Remove the rentention policy folder.
 	if err := os.RemoveAll(filepath.Join(s.path, database, name)); err != nil {
 		return err