The surgeon’s knife followed the path of the cancer, and by the time the end drew near, Stephanie Whiting-Stradinger’s face was pretty much gone.

She had been diagnosed with malignant skin cancer in her early 20s, and as the disease propelled the young mother of three toward an early death, her mother, Joni Whiting, grew weary of the screams of agony. Dozens of Oxycontin pills every day, sometimes as many as 60, could not take away her daughter’s pain.

That’s when the resident of rural Jordan, Minn., a self-described law-and-order mom who served in the Vietnam War, turned to medical marijuana.

“What would you have done if you were in my shoes?” a tearful Whiting asked a Minnesota Senate committee Wednesday, testifying on behalf of the latest attempt to legalize the use of medical marijuana for patients suffering from chronic and debilitating illnesses.

The drug helped her daughter eat, Whiting said. She lived another three months before dying in 2003 at age 26.

The bill passed the Committee on Health, Housing and Family Security, one of the lowest of many hurdles it must clear before becoming law. Past efforts at a bill have been met with opposition by law enforcement groups, as well as Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Spokesman Brian McClung said Pawlenty’s opposition remains unchanged.

More than a dozen states have medical marijuana laws on the books, and there is widespread anecdotal evidence that doctors recommend it for everything from easing the effects of chemotherapy to pain management. The Minnesota Medical Association has not taken a position on the issue.

And despite a futile, decade-long effort to pass a medical marijuana bill at the state Capitol, a SurveyUSA poll released last May found that Minnesotans favor legalizing medical marijuana by more than a 2-to-1 margin.

Medical marijuana supporters have again drummed up a bipartisan list of supporters. One of those is Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, who said medical marijuana is an issue on which both sides can work together.

“If medical marijuana will ease somebody’s pain in their dying days, who in the hell are we to say no to that?” Koering said.

Also testifying in support of the bill was Dr. George Wagoner, a retired fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists who lives in Michigan. He said his wife, who died of ovarian cancer, found that only marijuana eased the nausea associated with chemotherapy.

“Lunch isn’t a big deal until you can’t eat. This bill isn’t about the street use and abuse of marijuana. That’s an entirely different deal. This is about medicine,” Wagoner said at a news conference before the hearing, adding that he is dedicating the rest of his life to making marijuana accessible to those who need it.

Opponents include Harlan Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association. He said he is concerned that marijuana has not been approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and that it would wind up in the hands of people who have no medical need for the drug.

“Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it’s hard to get it back in,” Johnson said.

The bill would allow people with cancer, glaucoma, HIV or a host of other illnesses to use a doctor’s recommendation to obtain a registry card, which allows them to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana or grow as many as 12 marijuana plants.

Falsifying records to obtain such a card would be a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

The bill contains several provisions addressing questions that have been raised during past attempts at a bill. They include prohibitions on children obtaining a registry card and bans on using medical marijuana on school grounds, in a corrections facility or while operating a motor vehicle, including a school bus.

Despite states passing similar laws, state laws do not supersede the federal ban on possessing marijuana. That has led to conflicts in states such as California — which in 1996 enacted the first medical marijuana law by popular vote — where federal agents have raided dispensaries across the state.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama has said federal law enforcement officers should not circumvent state wishes when it comes to medical marijuana.