A landmark decision permitting judges not to impose prison terms on minor drug dealers has altered the legal landscape at a time the government is sharpening its rhetoric on dance party drug suppliers.

Magistrates have revealed their impatience with dealers in sentencing remarks delivered amid a cluster of ecstasy-related deaths but stopped short of imposing prison terms on Tina Phan, who smuggled 394 tablets into a dance party at which a teenager died, and Zachary Currell, who took 14 tablets into a festival at Sydney Olympic Park. There is no suggestion Phan had anything to do with the teenager's death.

Two young people died at the Defqon.1 music festival at Penrith in September. Credit:Jessica Aquilina

The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal overturned a 30-year legal principle in November 2017 when it ruled that there were alternatives to full-time custody for drug traffickers, since which time observers have noted an increase in intensive correction orders [ICOs] being imposed.

The shift in the approach by judges to dealers stands in contrast to the uncompromising stance of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who last year introduced a 20-year jail term for drug supply causing death and on-the-spot fines for drug possession, following the deaths of two people at the Defqon.1 music festival in September.