In Room 123 of the state Capitol this week in St. Paul, members of the Senate Finance Committee sat for hours around a table and grappled with the minutiae of the controversial medical marijuana bill. With glasses perched on noses, laptops opened, water bottles drained, the senators tossed about such terms as “qualifying patients,” “local costs” and “data sets.”

In the audience, three mothers silently held up photos of their chronically sick children. Angela Garin was one of them.

For more than two hours, the St. Paul woman held a photo of her 5-year-old son, Paxton.

“I wanted everyone to know why I was here,” she said afterward.

She was there to show her support for legalizing medical marijuana — a move that would benefit her son, who has intractable seizures, as well as other Minnesota children and adults who could use the drug to relieve pain and other chronic symptoms.

On Tuesday, the state Senate voted overwhelmingly to join 21 states and the District of Columbia and legalize medical marijuana. Lawmakers approved a bill that would allow patients with certain health conditions to obtain up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana for medical use with certain restrictions.

The House is expected to vote Friday on a more limited bill that would give some patients medical marijuana as part of a research registry.

Both pieces of legislation would not allow patients to smoke marijuana but would permit them to use the drug as a pill, oil or some other form. The Senate bill would allow vaporization of marijuana; the House proposal would allow vaporization of liquids and pills, but no vaporized delivery of the plant.

It was the start of a new year in 2009 when Angela Garin, now 26 and a patient flow coordinator for a local health care system, and Padraic “Paddy” Garin, now 32 and a graduate student who works in transit information, welcomed their first son at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul.

At first, Paxton grew and developed like a typical, healthy baby.

Everything changed later that year.

“Paddy and I were on vacation, to celebrate the anniversary of our first date,” Angela said. “We were in Seattle. Grandma is a physician, so she was baby-sitting. Our plane had just landed when she called us. She said, ‘You need to come home. Paxton is having a seizure.’ That was June 6, 2009, right before he turned 6 months old.”

Paxton was diagnosed with polymicrogyria, a rare, serious and permanent brain malformation. Seizures are common with this condition.

When Paxton was 18 months old, he suffered a seizure at the Stroll for Epilepsy walk in St. Paul.

“I gave him a dose of Diastat. It didn’t work, so I gave him another dose,” Angela said. “When the seizure still didn’t stop, we rushed him down the street to Children’s. In the ER, they gave him an IV of Ativan … and he did stop breathing. They had to intubate him.

“That’s the day Paddy said we should try medical marijuana,” she said.

Paxton’s father had gone online, seeking treatment alternatives for his son.

“Paddy learned that there are states where medical marijuana is legal, and they’re giving it to kids,” Angela said. “Paddy was all for it. I wasn’t.”

Why not?

“For the same reason a lot of people aren’t,” Angela said. “It’s pot. No, I wasn’t going to give my baby pot.”

Over time, though, options dwindled: No U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medications have yet controlled Paxton’s seizures; the Ketogenic diet, a special high-fat and low-carb regimen that controls seizures in some patients, didn’t work; and, due to the extent of Paxton’s brain abnormalities — confirmed by multiple scans and a consultation with a specialist in Michigan — he is not a candidate for surgery.

A year ago, Paxton’s neurologist said they were out of options.

Paxton is seen at Children’s Hospital and Clinics in St. Paul, which recently issued a statement on the use of pediatric medical marijuana:

“The use of marijuana and cannabis oil to treat various medical conditions, including epilepsy in children, has received increasing media attention this year. We continue to hear heartfelt stories from families reporting positive results while using marijuana to treat epilepsy and seizures in their children.

“However, the scientific evidence for routine use of marijuana is severely lacking. This lack of information does not mean that marijuana is ineffective, but because there are no clinical trials to rely upon ,we do not know if it is a safe and efficacious treatment. Additionally, we do not know what the long-term effects of using marijuana in infants and children are. As such, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is supportive of further pediatric specific clinical research to determine the safety and efficacy of marijuana and cannabis oil in the treatment of epilepsy and seizures.”

A STUDY IN OREGON

Some Minnesota families in search of medical marijuana have relocated to Colorado. But the Garins — who own a home, have good jobs and a big family support system in Minnesota — decided to head farther west instead.

“We did our homework and found out that Oregon is the only state that you don’t have to be a resident,” Angela said. “And you only need to see one physician. In Colorado, you have to see two.”

This fall, the parents took Paxton to see Dr. Sandra Camacho-Otero of the Portland Alternative Clinic in Portland, Ore.

“When we showed up at the doctor’s office, they already had his medical records and knew he was qualified,” Angela said. “She examined him, signed off (on a medical marijuana card) and we were legal right then and there.”

The family then turned to MxBiotech in Eugene, Ore., which began investigating marijuana as a therapeutic option several years ago. For a month, the Garins stayed with relatives in Corvallis, Ore., while Paxton participated in the Mx’s observational clinic.

“Paxton’s medication was infused with coconut oil, and we gave it to him every three to four hours, orally,” Angela said.

It had an effect.

“Paxton has clusters of seizures, about six to 12 clusters a day, which pan out to be hundreds of individual seizures,” Paddy said. “They add up to about an hour of seizure activity a day.

“In Oregon, you could see the trend down: First, it was an hour, then a half hour, down to the low point of about five to 10 minutes.”

On Nov. 19, Paxton had just one seizure that was six minutes long.

“He still had seizures every single day, I’m not going to say it was a miracle cure,” Angela said. “But to go from an hour of seizures a day to five minutes of seizures a day? To go from hundreds a day to one? That’s insane.”

During their one-month experiment, Paxton, who also has cerebral palsy and autism, showed signs of developing.

“He doesn’t walk well, but in Oregon, he was able to walk up and down stairs by himself. He was able to feed himself,” Angela said.

“He colored for the first time,” Paddy said. “There was a light in his eyes that wasn’t there before. He was awakening a bit.”

Eventually, though, the family had to return home. Paxton’s early childhood special education teacher noticed a change.

“His teacher said, ‘I don’t know what you did while he was away, but he’s doing outstanding,’ ” Angela said.

BACK HOME

On a rainy day this month, Denny Garin, Paxton’s grandfather, rocked the dozing boy in a hospital room chair at Children’s.

At one point, one of the boy’s arms flailed.

“I think that was a seizure,” Denny said.

Paxton spent about three days in the hospital because of his seizure activity.

“He had a cluster that lasted over 37 minutes at about 3 in the morning,” Angela said.

Since returning from Oregon, the seizures and frequency have returned.

“He’s slowly regressed,” Angela said.

But all hope is not lost: the family has a plan.

“If this bill doesn’t pass,” Angela said, “we are moving.”

Ben Garvin and Christopher Snowbeck contributed to this report. Molly Guthrey can be reached at 651-228-5505.