The first of the so-called "blockbuster" drugs, the tranquilizer Valium, first available to the public in the early 1960s, was the top selling prescription drug during the 1970s. It was called a blockbuster because it was marketed and sold to a wide variety of people to help them control anxiety, nervousness, and tension. Over the next two decades, both the doctors who prescribed the drug and their patients who took it began to realize that Valium had several negative effects, and its popularity has decreased. However, Valium's fame as an aid to relaxation is still widespread. Most people will understand that the suggestion "Take a Valium!" means "Calm down!"

Valium is the brand name for a drug called diazepam, which is a tranquilizer (calming medication). Diazepam was invented in the late 1950s by a Swiss drug company called Hoffmann-La Roche, who began to market it in the early...