Ecstasy availability in NSW has soared and a record number of drug detections were made at Fuzzy's Field Day festival on Thursday, leading to renewed calls for a fresh approach to ecstasy use.

Ms Bartter, 19, died from a suspected adverse reaction to one and a half ecstasy pills taken at Fuzzy's Harbourlife festival in November.

On Thursday, police arrested 214 people for taking drugs into Field Day, the highest ever for the one-day dance festival.

Among them was a 20-year-old woman allegedly in possession of 75 pills, a 21-year-old woman allegedly with 50 pills and a 19-year-old man allegedly with 40.

"[When] it's at the point where people who are 20 and 19 are taking drugs in for the purpose of supply, that's a sad reflection of what's happening in the community,"  Cental Metropolitan region operations manager Superintendent Danny Doherty said.

"[Ms Bartter's death] was an incredibly tragic incident ... obviously having a large number of detections yesterday indicates to me that it's disappointing that people aren't getting the message."

Ecstasy use among 20-to-39-year-old Australians has reached almost nearly one in four, and there are signs that purity and availability are increasing.

In 2014, 89 per cent of ecstasy users surveyed in NSW said the drug was easy or very easy to obtain, up from 86 per cent in the previous year's Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System.

Superintendent Doherty said the number of detections was increasing at each festival.

The alarming figures have led to renewed calls to semi-regulate the drug market by making pill testing kits available, allowing festivalgoers to gauge the potency of their drugs.

Australian Drug Foundation director John Rogerson said there was a desperate need to change the focus of the ecstasy debate.

"At the end of the day, with illicit drugs, we're never going to arrest our way out of the problem," he said.

"Most of what we do is skewed towards law enforcement and we need to have a conversation that looks at this issue differently because what we're doing is not working."

Fuzzy warned ticket-holders via its Facebook page that there would be "herds" of sniffer dogs at Field Day but their presence did little to deter people from taking drugs in, some going as far as to conceal them in condoms and in their hair.

"The mythology amongst young people about how drug dogs work and the ways of getting around them is quite amazing," said educator Paul Dillon, founder of Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia.

A 27-year-old real estate worker who attended Field Day said she wrapped two pills in foil in her bra.

"I actually get pretty nervous walking past the dogs but it has worked so many times that I just keep doing it," she said.

Mr Dillon said adverse reactions to ecstasy were also increasing because of indications that purity was increasing but price was not.

A 20-year-old woman collapsed on the dance floor at the Hordern Pavilion on New Year's Eve because of ecstasy and was rushed to hospital.

In Britain, three men died on New Year's Eve after taking red ecstasy pills stamped with a Superman logo.

"If the quality has gone up but it's still cheap then it's no surprise people are moving back towards it," Mr Dillon said.

Fuzzy did not respond to questions.