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You make a common error. Medicine has advanced greatly. Old old fashioned assumptions of the housewife pill are uninformed. It is not from the 50’s. It wasn’t approved in U.S. until the 60’s. For the most part, the 50’s only offered barbituates (even more dangerous). Diazepam continues to experience WORLD sales and is far more than a housewife pill!

Diazepam was a ground breaker in benzo’s. It has spanned to many indications. Neuro and even vets use this one.
Any surgery? Outpatient procedures? Convulsions? Skeletal muscle spasms? Nothing funny about the needs for diazepam from my personal experience and thank goodness it is not an ‘old fashioned’ drug!

It remains on the World Health Org “essential” list. Neuro fields have adopted this drug. ;)
Then there is the immediate short term use for our little ones. :(
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Valium Description:
Valium is a derivative of benzodiazepine. Manufactured by Roche and marketed under the brand names Valium, Seduxen and Apozepam, diazepam possesses anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, skeletal muscle relaxant, amnestic and sedative properties. This makes it useful for treating insomnia, anxiety, muscle spasms and some types of epilepsy. It is also used before certain medical procedures (such as endoscopies) to reduce tension and anxiety, and in some procedures to induce amnesia.

Diazepam is listed as a core medicine in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “Essential Drugs List.” The drug is used to treat a wide range of conditions and is one of the most frequently administered and prescribed benzodiazepines.

Diazepam was the second benzodiazepine developed by Leo Sterbach, and was approved for use in 1963. It is five times more potent than its predecessor, chlordiazepoxide, and quickly surpassed it in terms of sales.

Indications and Dosage:
Diazepam is indicated for the treatment of insomnia, anxiety, and symptoms of acute alcohol or opiate withdrawal. Anxiety or tension associated with the stress of day to day life normally would not require treatment with an anxiolytic. In acute alcohol withdrawal, Valium may prove useful in the symptomatic relief of acute agitation, impending or acute delirium, hallucinations and tremors.

Diazepam has some off-label indications as well, including treatment of insomnia (short-term), treatment of tetanus – in conjunction with other measures of intensive-treatment, initial management of mania – along with first-line drugs such as lithium, treatment of stiff-person syndrome, treatment of painful muscle conditions, treatment of spastic muscular paresis, treatment of overdosage by hallucinogens or CNS stimulants and treatment of drug-induced seizures, among other uses.

And babies :(
Oral diazepam (Valium), given at times of fever, safely reduces the risk of febrile seizure recurrence in infants and children, according to a study published in the July 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine * and funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Febrile seizures are fever-triggered convulsions that occur in approximately 3-4 percent of all children in the United States. Although they are generally harmless, their occurrence can cause alarm in the family.

Other medications can be given at the time of a febrile seizure. Diastat (diazepam) gel or liquid diazepam can be given by rectum. Klonopin (clonazepam) wafers can be placed on the tongue or a tablet form of diazepam or lorazepam can be crushed and put between the cheek and the gum.