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If the teenager is a minor, the parents are responsible. [In Ontario, you can be an adult (18) but under the legal drinking age (19).] I don't necessarily think the parents are to blame.
Even at most ages of teendom, people are making their own choices, regardless of parenting. Even kids of "perfect" parents I'm sure are engaging in this practice. However, the parents are ultimately responsible for their minor children and should do the best they can to prevent this.
Much of that is having instilled morals and an understanding of consequences of various activities. Other things include practical issues such as curfew, checking in, knowing where they are and who they're with.
Parents can only do so much, but they should do what is expected of them.
Teenagers can generally suck.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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