EDITORIAL : IT'S NOT JUST HOLLYWOOD; DRUG USE IS WIDESPREAD IN THE REST OF SOCIETY, TOO.

THE tragic deaths in Encino May 28 of actor Phil Hartman and his wife, Brynn, have again focused attention on self-destructive behavior in the entertainment industry, much of it involving drugs.

According to police, Hartman was shot to death late last month by his wife, who later took her own life with a handgun. While toxicology tests still are not complete, friends of the family have said that the Hartmans had experienced marital difficulties due to Brynn Hartman's drinking and drug use.

The suspicion of drug involvement in the Hartman tragedy should come as no surprise.

Actor Charlie Sheen was hospitalized after a drug overdose in May.

Actor Robert Downey Jr. went to jail last year for violating his probation in connection with a drug conviction.

Comedian Chris Farley died of a drug overdose in December.

Ever since comedian and actor John Belushi's death of a drug overdose in 1982, Hollywood's drug problem has been notorious.

With all that publicity, it's no wonder that many members of the public probably suspect that drug use in Hollywood is out of control. But then why should Hollywood be any different than the rest of society?

The fact of the matter is that drug use is widespread just about everywhere. Indeed, it's so common that drug arrests rarely are news unless they involve public figures.

One of the most startling illustrations of the pervasiveness of the use of illicit drugs that we have encountered can be found in a book by the late Ben R. Rich, who succeeded the legendary Kelly Johnson as the head of Lockheed's famous ``Skunk Works'' in Burbank.

In ``Skunk Works, A personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed,'' Rich described the problems the company encountered during the 1980s when it tried to hire employees to produce the F-117 stealth fighter under tight security precautions.

``Forty-four percent of the people who applied for jobs with us flunked drug testing,'' Rich wrote. ``I began to think that all of Southern California was zonked on coke, heroin, pot and LSD.''

Have matters changed since then?

Well, the Judicial Council of California reported not so long ago that 50 percent to 70 percent of all crimes in this state are committed by people who tested positively for drugs.

And in his proposed 1998-99 state budget, Gov. Pete Wilson requested $1.1 million to implement an experimental program to keep drugs out of prison by subjecting inmates to random drug tests and using closed-circuit TV to monitor visitors.

Meanwhile, the Legislative Analyst's Office reported that ``prison officials acknowledged that contraband illegal drugs smuggled by some staff members is contributing significantly to the prison drug problem.''

If authorities are having that much trouble keeping drugs from people who are locked up, imagine the challenges police face in trying to keep drugs off the streets.

Hollywood frequently is accused of being indifferent to the problem of substance abuse and even sending the wrong message about drugs in many instances.

Those complaints have some validity. Nevertheless, they don't relieve society as a whole of the responsibility it has to clean up its act.