According to the link, around 1 in 100 people commit suicide. It could be argued that this is a rather high number. Certainly any other diseases that achieved this would receive significant attention.
What is interesting however, is how suicide rates haven't changed with other things like medical improvements and improvements to quality of life.
You probably have heard of campaigns to reduce smoking. These diseases (e.g., COPD and the related emphysema/chronic bronchitis) are strongly linked to smoking.
In the mid 90s, I remember seeing some anti-smoking campaigns that used people with tracheotomies (see ref 1); these folks almost definitely had lower respiratory disease.
Your point is well-taken - we hardly spoke about addiction as a medical health problem until recently.
I think people are aware of it but it's a bit depressing to talk about given that solutions aren't easy. I can see it getting more coverage as other causes become less common in young people. It's the #1 cause for ages 15-45 in Australia for example (that's just the country that came up on random googling) http://www.aihw.gov.au/deaths/leading-causes-of-death/
I think it's more cheerful to give attention to making society happier and healthier which should have a knock on effect on the suicide rate.
What is interesting however, is how suicide rates haven't changed with other things like medical improvements and improvements to quality of life.