http://www.bspcn.com/2008/03/28/how-to-guarantee-a-girl-never-leaves-you/
I just thought it was funny, but then wondered how criminal it would be (if it worked).
Wonder what statute you’d be prosecuted under for that one…assault? Attempted assault by poisoning?
Hahah, that one turned up in Stumbleupon for me today too. Crafty thinking there! 
No idea what law, but I don’t think it would work. Still, there must be laws pretty much everywhere against feeding people chemicals without their knowledge, so those laws would apply, wouldn’t they?
Practicing medicine without a license? IANAD, but aren’t those patches prescribed, not simply OTC?
They’re now OTC.
I hope some of our lawyer types would come along but this seems a pretty clear case of assault.
The tort of “battery” is any non-consensual touching. This can range from a punch in the kidney to spitting on someone’s shoe. No damage need be proven – only the intent of the perpetrator to cause the contact. The victim here would definitely have a civil cause of action.
Whether it would be criminal battery, however, I do not know. Probably.
IANAL, etc.
Well, I would say battery. Doesn’t assault require that the victim be in fear of a threat of violence? If someone is being surreptitiously harmed while unconscious, it seems they are being battered without being assaulted.
It’d never work - at least not if she reacted to the patch like I did when I tried to use them to stop smoking. The patch itches like mad when you first apply it - no way she wouldn’t notice.
But, since that wasn’t the question, I think she could have a case if she could prove malicious intent.