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Can you leave cannabis in a hot car?
Best not, vapes included: a car parked in the sun can heat about 40 degrees F above the outside air within an hour; temperature is one of the storage conditions that change cannabis; gummies and chocolate can soften or melt; and the FDA says not to leave a vape in your car on a hot summer day.
How hot a parked car gets
Hotter than the air outside, and fast. In a study published in Pediatrics in 2005, a dark sedan parked on clear days from 72 to 96 degrees F warmed by about 40 degrees F inside within an hour, 80 percent of that in the first 30 minutes, and cracking the windows did not slow it. In a study of six vehicles on hot days in Tempe, Arizona, another desert city, those parked in the sun averaged about 118 degrees F inside once the temperature leveled off, and those in full shade about 103 degrees F (Temperature, 2018).
What heat does to cannabis
A 2026 review of studies on the volatile oils of cannabis flower found that storage conditions such as temperature, light, oxygen and moisture, among other factors, consistently changed their chemical profiles (Journal of Cannabis Research). Heat also softens chocolate and gummies. Nevada requires each serving of a multi-serving edible to be marked so it separates easily (NAC 678B.596), and one that melts and sets again may no longer separate along those marks.
Vape batteries
Vapes add one more reason: their batteries. The FDA's advice on avoiding vape battery fires, word for word: "Protect your vape from extreme temperatures by not leaving it in direct sunlight or in your car on a hot summer day or freezing cold night, and do not charge it in extreme temperatures." (FDA)
Carrying it
- Take it with you rather than leave it in the car. If you are staying at a hotel or casino, know before you buy that most prohibit cannabis on their property.
- Heading to Red Rock Canyon or Lake Mead? Both are federal land, and possessing cannabis is still an offense under federal law, so do not bring it, not in your bag and not in the car.
- Keep it in the opaque, child-resistant package it was sold in; Nevada requires one at checkout.
- Keep it closed on the drive: using cannabis in a vehicle, moving or parked, is a misdemeanor in Nevada, and driving under its influence is a crime.
- It stays in Nevada: cannabis bought here may not leave the state (the rules in Las Vegas).
- Wherever you keep it, keep it somewhere cool and dark, out of reach of children and pets; every Nevada cannabis store must sell locking containers made to keep children out (NAC 678B.312).
General information, not medical advice. For use only by adults 21 years of age and older. Keep out of reach of children.