Right now they seem to be poisoning weapons and armor, which then poison the ghost as it picks it up.

This results in a double kill.

By design?

EDITED to add:

If this is by design...is this worthwhile?

I consider it griefing and believe you should be rotd'd for it.

having said that, you could hire a merc and get them to pick up stuff.

http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=17&topic_id=483&mesg_id=483&page=

For example, there's no haste potion, thief was revamped, edges have come out, and you now get your eq back when your corpse decays.

I think CF in the last decade had gotten a lot newbierfriendly while retaining its depth and competitive nature.

Ultimately, do we want people sitting around for 50 hours from poison when they just already died? If I were a true newbie, I would give up at that point. Maybe the issue is really that some poisons can't be healed.