The WADA recommends a two-year ban from the sport, but increasing the time could reduce the number of doping incidents. An athlete might be less likely to turn to performance enhancing drugs of any kind if they knew they could face a ban for life, or a five-year or more ban from their chosen sport. Laws regarding the use of banned substances should be reviewed and updated so they are the same for each sport, and so they increase the culpability of the players involved. Since many of these athletes serve as heroes and role models to the children of the world, they owe it to them to come clean, stay clean, and support stricter enforcement in their specific sports. Lance Armstrong, in his comeback maneuver, could serve as a catalyst to bring about reform and change in the nation's and world sporting arenas. While he travels for cancer, he could promote more awareness and enforcement of anti-doping in all sports, and he could attempt to make real change, if he desired. In the end, Armstrong's comeback could come back to bite...

However, he'll travel the world raising cancer awareness, and he'll bring more publicity to the area of doping in professional sports. By hiring his own drug-testing firm, he's bringing doping to the forefront of his comeback. He's also admitting that the use of drugs is so widespread that any outstanding results now seem to rely on doping, rather than on athletic ability. Armstrong survived cancer to come back to win the Tour a record seven times. Can he survive this bid to return to the Tour and gain another Tour victory? That remains to be seen.
References

Editors. "Anti-Doping Expert Promises to Test Armstrong for 'Everything'." ESPN.com. 2008. 26 Sept. 2008.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=3609575

Murphy, Austin. "Armstrong Returns With a New Team and a Winning Cause." Sports Illustrated.com. Sept. 2008, 26 Sept. 2008.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/austin_murphy/09/25/lance-armstrong-return/index.html.