Diazepam was the second benzodiazepine to be invented by Sternbach of Hoffmann-La Roche, and was approved for use in 1963. It is two and a half times more potent than its predecessor, chlordiazepoxide, which it quickly surpassed in terms of sales.The benzodiazepines gained popularity among medical professionals as an improvement upon barbiturates, which have a comparatively narrow therapeutic index, and are far more sedating at therapeutic doses. The benzodiazepines are also far less dangerous; death rarely results from diazepam overdose, except in cases where it is consumed with large amounts of other depressants (such as alcohol or other sedatives). Diazepam was the top-selling pharmaceutical in the United States from 1969 to 1982, with peak sales in 1978 of 2.3 billion tablets.
Diazepam is commonly used on the treatment of:

1. reatment of anxiety, panic attacks, and states of agitation.
2. Treatment of status epilepticus, adjunctive treatment of other forms of epilepsy
3. Treatment of vertigo associated with Meniere's Disease.
4. Treatment of the symptoms of alcohol and opiate withdrawal
5. Short-term treatment of insomnia.
6. Treatment of tetanus, together with other measures of intensive-treatment
7. Initial management of mania, together with firstline drugs like lithium, valproate, lamotrigine or other antipsychotics[citation needed]
8. Adjunctive treatment of painful muscle conditions
9. Adjunctive treatment of spastic muscular paresis (para-/tetraplegia) caused by cerebral or spinal cord conditions such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury (long-term treatment is coupled with other rehabilitative measures)
10. Palliative treatment of stiff person syndrome.
11. Used to alleviate the symptoms of Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome
12. Pre-/postoperative sedation, anxiolysis and/or amnesia (e.g. before endoscopic or surgical procedures)
13. Treatment of overdosage with hallucinogens or CNS stimulants.
14. Adjunctive treatment of drug-induced seizures, resulting from exposure to sarin, VX, soman (or other organophosphate poisons; See CANA), lindane, chloroquine, physostigmine, or pyrethroids
15. Emergency treatment of eclampsia, along with IV magnesium sulfate
16. Prophylactic treatment of oxygen toxicity during hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
17. Used in the treatment for irritable bowel syndrome.
18. Used to treat pain resulting from muscle spasms caused by various spastic dystonias, including blepharospasm, spasmodic dysphonia and Meige's Syndrome.