In a 10-hour period, from 8 p.m. Saturday to early Sunday morning, police responded to two separate calls in Richmond Hill in which individuals had armed themselves with knives and were behaving violently toward others after ingesting magic mushrooms, police said.

In both cases, police responded and utilized a conducted energy weapon to successfully de-escalate and disarm the suspects.

A search warrant was executed at a residence during one of the incidents and a quantity of mushrooms was seized. The drugs have been sent to Health Canada for analysis.

It's not clear what role, if any, the drugs played in the two the behaviour of the accused, police said.

Magic mushroom is a term used to refer to approximately 100 species of mushrooms that contain compounds called psilocybin and psilocin. The mushrooms are typically dried and crushed into a powder, then smoked or ingested.

These mushrooms are psychoactive and are known to cause hallucinations. Magic mushrooms are illegal and can also be extremely dangerous.

It is possible for them to be laced with other harmful substances.