re the rules not ending the problem, i go with the cliche, criminal laws don't stop murder or robbery but we still have them because we consider them a moral wrong we punish when we catch you.
i also think you're wandering towards a cycling-esque argument where you blame the rules for the appearance of ickiness. i don't buy it. it is icky that i, for example, once saw in person the final stage in paris one year that lance won. it's now, like, what did i watch? what of that was real?
but that's a bit too much circular thinking or solipsism. let's say there were no rules. let's say a newspaper publishes an article on rampant roid abuse. let's say it has it on good authority an athlete ordered the drugs. invoices and such. let's say it mentions life consequences later on for older former athletes -- like we are now starting to do for CTE.
i think you're forgetting that there was doping before there were tests. i think you're ignoring that when people heard stuff was happening, it was upsetting and extracted this same "what did i just watch then" response you're saying is specific to testing. eg the neverending discussions about did the eastern bloc mid-distance women cheat in the 1970s-1980s when women with legs like weightlifters or men set world records at 400 and 800.
are you really saying morality and the ick factor goes away if you normalize it?
i think it just subjectivizes things. some will say who cares. some will care. and among those who care there will be these eternal debates about was x doping. with no objective means to decide them. "but her legs are huge and that lead in that era is just abnormal."
thing being, by that standard, levrone beats the living heck out of 400H in a way that is startling.
you're also finessing the athlete consequences issue. it is acting like a parent. but it's bad for your health to do this stuff for any length of time. and if we have to be less paternal, that if a sport ignores associated health, then stuff like football and CTE becomes a problem, and the sport may lose some viewers and participation. i eventually came back, but after watching tour de france back in the last century, i stopped for a long time. part of the deal with the viewer is they don't feel cheated later on. i think the testing is only one aspect of feeling cheated.